Of Family and Secrets
by Mrs.Scott323
Summary: What if everything isn't as it seems? Some things are better kept secret. Especially when it involves family. Jibbs! Might be a little AU
1. Reunion

**_This is my first NCIS fic ever. And the first fic that has the possibility to be more than a oneshot. A warning: this is unbeta'd and I've never seen season's 1 and 2 of NCIS. I hope you all like it and if you want that I continue this, review!  
Disclaimer: Don't own a thing. Kinda sad isn't it?  
If I continue this, I hope someone is willing to beta :-)._**

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**Chapter 1: Reunion**

Director Jenny Shepard was sitting in her office finishing up some paperwork. The only light in the room was from the lamp at her desk. She sat back in her chair and sighed. It had been a long day. When she learned from Abby that it were her father's fingerprints on the bottle and the glass she told Abby to keep this between them. After that she drowned herself in her work, trying not to think about her father.

She massaged the tense muscles in her shoulder with her hand and heard a knock on the door.

"Come in" Jen wondered who was still here this late at night.

"You still here Jen?"

"Jethro, I should've know it was you who'd still be here." She smiled at him as he stepped inside.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping off a jetlag or something?" Gibbs looked at her and saw that she was surprised he didn't bring up their last conversation.

"I'm not that tired." Gibbs smiled as she yawned.

"Sure you aren't, why don't you let me take you home."

"Fine, I suppose I could use some sleep."

They walked out of her office, his hand on the small of her back as he guided her to the elevators.

They drove to the house in silence. He threw an occasional glance to his right and saw that Jen had fallen asleep against the window of the car. She didn't even wake when he pulled over at her house. He decided to carry her inside and let her sleep. Luckily she still kept her spare key in the same spot, searching in a woman's purse was something he hadn't done since his third wife. He had learned that lesson the hard way. He picked her up and carried her up to her room. He chuckeled softly, she always was a deep sleeper. Back when they were partners he used to joke about it, telling her they could shoot a gun of besides her and she'd still be sleeping. He changed her into her night clothes. He wasn't sure she'd appreciate it but it was better than letting her sleep in that business suit. He tucked her in and kissed her forehead. Gibbs left her room and headed for the study to write a note saying she fell asleep and that he had put her to bed. He noticed their glasses were still on the desk but the other glass and bottle were gone. Naomi would've taken both of them. Strange. Jen said that there had been someone in the house. Maybe it was better if he stayed and made sure no one broke into the house. Just for safety.

* * *

The next morning Jenny woke up in her bed, thinking 'How did I get here? I don't remember going to bed'. She lifted the blankets and saw that she wore an old NCIS shirt, her usual sleeping outfit. She threw back the covers and left for the kitchen. From the living room she heard someone snoring. Silently she walked to the dooropening and looked inside. There was Gibbs on her couch. She entered the room and the sound of her feet on the floor woke him. 

"Morning Jen, did you sleep well?"

"Good morning Jethro. Yes, I did thank you. What are you doing here?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"You fell asleep in the car last night, and I put you to bed."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Wake you up? You?" Gibbs raised his eyebrow, with a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look on his face. Jenny let a small smile escape from her lips.

"Or maybe not."

The rest of breakfast they ate in silence and together they drove back to work since Jen's car was still in the parking garage there.

They left the elevator together not noticing the looks they got from Ziva and McGee. Gibbs and the Director were talking to each other and there was no sign of a banter or fight. That's something they didn't see every day. Gibbs walked over to them and they got back to work quickly.

"Where's Dinozzo, Ziva?"

"He emailed me this morning, wrote that he was sick and had the flu."

"Fine, back to work, I need those reports from our last case soon."

* * *

The rest of the day was uneventful. Jenny was still working in her office, her assistant had brought in some more files that needed to be signed. In return Jen had asked Cynthia to get Gibbs. A few minutes later he opened the door. 

"You called for me, Jen?"

"Ah Jethro, still unable to find the decency to knock?"

"Why would I, you knew I was coming anyway." They quickly slipped in to their usual banter filled conversations. Jenny decided to cut it off, as much as she liked their banters, she asked him to come to her office for another reason.

"I just wanted to thank you for taking care of me last night. God knows I wouldn't have left this chair at all."

"It's fine, Jen."

"Well, thank you anyway." She looked up at him but saw that his eyes gazed to her left. To the picture that stood on a shelf, one of a little girl being twirled around by her father. "Is that your father?"

"Yes." she answered him, she rose out of the chair and walked over to the shelf. She picked up the picture and looked at it herself. Normally she never took pictures to her office but this one was special, it was her favourite picture of her and her father.

"How come you never told me about him?"

"What is there to say. After the Gulfwar and my mother's death he changed, a lot. A year later he killed himself." She tried to keep a straight face but her eyes were filled with tears.

"You don't have to talk now, if you don't want to." Gibbs put his hand on her shoulder to give her some kind of comfort.

"Come over for dinner tonight. You told me all about Shannon and Kelly, the least I could do is tell you about my family." Jen put the pictureframe down and wipeda tear out of her eye.

"Sure, I'll meet you at the elevator at six. That way I'm sure you're not working too late, again." Gibbs smirked and walked out of her office, closing the door behind him.

* * *

They drove behind each other on the way to Jen's house. Jenny parked her car in the driveway and as she stepped out of the car she noticed that there was still a light on in her house. Gibbs parked behind her and they walked to the front door together. 

"How did you get in last night anyway?"

"You spare key is still in the same place as it used to be, so I let myself in."

"You could've used my key, I had it in my purse" Jen responded as she opened the front door and let them in.

"After that thing with Diane and her purse I try to stay out of women's purses." Jenny laughed as she remembered the black eye he had for a week when he had tried to take something out Diane's purse without her knowing it was him. She had hit him with her purse without even looking behind her to see who it was. The first his was right in his eye. Not really something he wanted to relive sometime soon.

They hung up their coats and Jen saw a light on in her study and the back of the chair facing her. She moitioned for Gibbs to follow her and they entered the study, Gibbs' hand on his gun as the chair turned around to face them.

"Hello Jennybear."

Jenny was shocked, her mouth fell open and the only thing she could say was

"Dad."

"And hello to you too, Jennybear shouldn't you introduce me to the man with the gun?"

Still not really back to her normal self she started: "Jethro, this is my dad, Jasper Shepard. Dad this is Leroy Jethro Gibbs. My husband."


	2. Reconnecting

**_A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, it really makes me write faster. I hope this chapter explains some things. It's still unbeta'd so sorry for the mistakes!_**

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**Chapter 2: Reconnecting**

" Dad, how..?" Jenny just couldn't form a decent sentance. She was still a bit shocked about the fact that her father was sitting in front of her. Alive.

"How this is possible?" Jasper put down the glass he had in his hand. "Maybe we should move this conversation to the living room. It's kind of a long story, but first I want to hear about this husband thing. When did that happen?"

The three of them walked to the living room and sat down, Jenny and Gibbs next to each other on the couch. Jasper in the chair close to the fireplace. That was the chair he always used to sit in. Finally Jen had recoverd fully from the shock and decided that is was better to get her story out of the way fast, that way she didn't have to wait very long to hear her father's story.

"Jethro and I have been married for almost six years. We used to work together, well actually we still do. But back then we were partners and our friendship turned into something more. When we were on a mission in Paris he surprised me by bringing me breakfast in bed and he had put one single rose on the tray. That rose had a card with it and it said ' Marry Me'". Jenny smiled remembering the moment and that feeling of love and happiness she felt back then. Gibbs looked at her and saw her smiling, he also noticed the look in her eyes, a look that she always had when she was daydreaming or reliving a memory. He continued the story:

" We got married in a small chapel outside Paris, no family or friends. Just us and the priest. But lately we've been through kind of a rough patch. You see, before we started to work together.."

Jasper interrupted him " You mean six years ago?"

" No, I meantthe second time. Anyway, Jen was ordered to do an undercover mission for two months. But I didn't want her to go. It would've been very dangerous, there were people involved who were known for their viciousness. But she decided to go and we had a huge fight about it. So we decided to separate for the time being."

Jenny was surprised Jethro told all that just out of the blue, they had never told anyone about their marriage, even Ducky didn't know. And now he just told her father about all this. Across from her, her father nodded and leaned back into his chair.

"I hope the two of you can work it out. I've seen you together the last couple of days and I know that you could work it out." Jasper looked at the two people sitting on the couch. They sat just a couple of inches away from each other. Gibbs looked at Jenny from time to time out of the corner of his eye. Probably to see if she was okay with the sudden appearance of her father. Gibbs turned his gaze from daughter to father.

"Weren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Well yes, I suppose I was. I think Jennybear has already told you about my death. But I'll tell my side of the story anyway. Thirteen years ago I became involved in a black op from the CIA. It was called Lodestone. I was undercover I kept my rank but I also 'sold' weapons to people from the underworld. It was an attempt to bust some of the greatest arms dealers in the world. La Grenouille was one of them. Unfortunately he found out about my real name and he sent his men to kill me. Luckily I heard of this before so I decided to fake a suicide. A friend of mine, who worked at CIA as a doctor would pronounce me dead and help me to safety. He also gave me an African herb. That herb can slow your heartrate down, it's so slow that it looks like you're dead. So I fake hung myself and took some of the herb. A few days later I woke up in a private hospital funded by the CIA. They gave me a new identity and I continued to work for Lodestone. It was the only way to keep you and your mother safe. Otherwise they would've come to find you and hurt you just to get to me." Jasper took a sip of his drink, taking a break from talking this long. He put his drink back on the table and continued.

"The last years I've been working for Lodestone. I know I should've contacted you sooner but I thought the shock of seeing me again would be too much. But after you visited Borov, I knew you would keep digging. So I decided it was better to come and find you myself."

The rest of the evening was filled with questions from Jenny and with catching up on things that happened the last years. It was early in the morning before anyone noticed the time.

"Dad, do you want to stay here? I have a spare room."

"No, that won't be necessary. I'm staying in a hotel a couple of blocks from here. I think I should be going, it's really early and I think the two of you have work in the morning."

"But dad, there is so much I still want to ask."

"I will visit again soon. Here is the number of my cell." Jasper handed Jenny a card with his cell number and the phonenumber of his hotelroom on it.

"Goodnight Jennybear." Jasper hugged his daughter. Jen smiled as she smelled the familiar scent, he still smelled the same. "Night Daddy."

"Goodnight Mr. Shepard."

"Please Jethro, call me Jasper, I can't have my son-in-law call me Mr. Shepard."

"Goodnight Jasper then." Gibbs shook his father-in-law's hand and the three of them walked to the door. Jasper opened the door and with a last goodbye he left.

Gibbs and Jen stood there for a while, looking at the front door. Gibbs' arm was around Jen's waist and she was leaning a bit against him.

"Jen, I think I should go too."

"Oh, okay." Jen's voice was soft and a little shaken. Gibbs turned his head to look at her. She was playing with her bracelet. Something she always did when she was nervous or afraid.

"I can stay if you want.." Jen stopped playing with her bracelet and looked at him. In his eyes she saw concern, curiosity and love. It had been a while since she saw love in his eyes, most the time the wall he had built around himself was too thick to let her see things in his eyes. But in moments like these she could see the man she fell in love with, that man had no secrets for her.

"I'd like that." She let a small smile escape from her lips and he guided them up the stairs. His arm still around her waist. In front of the bedroom they stopped. Gibbs hesitated, but Jen opened the door and led him into the room.

"I think you still have some things in the closet." They got ready for bed in silence, only the sound of the shower broke that silence. They slipped under the sheets and were awkwardly lying next to each other. Both on their backs looking at the ceiling. Gibbs broke the silence.

"If we're sleeping in the same bed, we might as well get a bit comfortable." Jen was happy that he suggested it. She still felt strange, she wasn't afraid or anything. She just needed to feel his arms around her, to feel safe. She moved and put her head on his chest, his heartbeat was still comforting to hear after all this time. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her a bit closer, she was almost lying un top of him. Her arm draped around his stomach and her left leg tangled between his. The fingers of his right hand were slowly drawing circles on her arm. It wasn't long before the two of them fell asleep.

--

The next morning the sound of Gibbs' cell phone woke them up. Gibbs lifted his arm and reached for his cell phone. He took it from the nightstand and saw it was Ziva calling.

"Jethro," Jen lifted her head from his chest and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. In a sleepy voice she asked "who is it?"

"It's Ziva, why would she be calling this early?" He finally answered the phone.

"You better have a damn good reason for waking me up."

"It's Tony, his car was found abandoned in the parking lot in front of the hospital and there was a note on the front seat. It said something about director Shepard's father and.. " Gibbs sat up quickly and interrupted her.

"I'm on my way. Bring the note to Abby and go to the car to search for more evidence."

He got out of the bed and began to put his clothes on.

"Tony is gone, and there was a note in his car with your father's name on it. You better call him to warn him." The two of them quickly changed and as they were walking out the door Jen called her father's hotel room to tell him to stay inside. To avoid suspician they took their own cars and headed to the crimescene.

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**_I'm really sorry I didn't mention that it's a little bit AU.puts on best angelface . I have no idea if there's a herb that can do something like that. In my world there is ;-). The next chapter might take a bit longer because I want to write some chapters in advance. _**

**_please review!_**


	3. Remembering

**_Here is the next chapter. It's almost entirely a flashback. Why? because I wanted to write one. If you want me to write another flashback (not this long) just tell me in you're review. And suggest an episode for it. This is still unbeta'd if my spelling and grammar bothers you, offer to beta :p.  
On a happy note: this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Feel special!_**

**_Disclaimer: don't own a thing. If you haven't seen season 3 finale. don't read this. Or at least not the part in italics. _**

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**

As she drove to the hospital she remembered the last time she was at a hospital. The time she was visiting Jethro. She had never felt so scared like she was back then.

_**At the White House**_

_Jenny felt her phone vibrating through her purse. _

"_Excuse me gentlemen." she walked out of the room, normally she didn't leave her phone on during a dinner but this time was different, she knew Jethro was on a mission. She wanted to be able to reach him, the whole day she had felt this strange feeling, like something was about to go wrong. She searched through her purse and finally found her phone._

"_This is Director Shepard." _

" _Hello Director, this is Dr. West from Washington Memorial Hospital, your husband was hurt in a bomb explosion. He is in Intensive Care at the moment._

" _Is he okay?" _

"_I think it is better if we discuss this in person." _

_Jenny hung up the phone and went back in the room. "My husband was in an accident, I have to leave immediately. I'm really sorry." _

_She walked as fast as she could on her heels and left for the hospital. Fifteen minutes later she arrived at the hospital. She stormed through the doors and approached the desk._

"_Condition of Special Agent Jethro Gibbs" She showed her NCIS badge. The nurse behind the desk typed his name in the computer and said:_

"_Trauma one, no condition listed yet." Jen didn't listen further, she walked to the trauma doors and tried to push them open. _

"_You can't go in there, Director. It's restricted. To medical personnel." Jen sighed and turned around. With an determined look on her face she approached the nurse again. That woman was really getting on her nerves._

" _This isn't about turf you know." The nurse stood up from her chair._

" _Oh, I know. It's about rules. And one really big one is: non medical people can not enter trauma one. Unless they're carried in." _

"_Get me a gurney. Listen to me, that is my husband in there. I want to see him!" The nurse chuckled "That's good. Get me a gurney. I like that. He might be you're husband but you still can't go in." _

"_I left a dinner at the White House to come here. I want to see my husband!"_

" _I'm impressed, really I am. But that still doesn't change the rules." Jen shook her head and searched in her purse for her phone. _

" _I was hoping I wouldn't have to resort to this." _

" _Shooting you're way in?" Great, the nurse was getting sarcastic. Jen gave her a fake smile._

"_Don't be silly, I don't have my weapon." 'But I wish I did,' she added in her mind._

"_Calling the president?" The head nurse asked in an sarcastic tone as Jenny dialed a number._

" _Now _that_ would be overkill." Jen heard that the persoon on the other end had picked up._

"_Hello?" _

" _Hello Condy? It's Jenny." The nurse's eyes got big as she heard the person on the other side of the phone answer._

" _Any word yet?" _

" _No, I don't have his condition yet." _

" _Why not?" _

" _The head nurse won't let me into trauma." Jen answered her in an annoyed tone. She was wasting time standing here. She handed the phone over to the nurse. _

"_Ethel Washingtown, ma'm. Yes I understand." the nurse gave up. She handed the phone back to Jenny._

" _Thank you, Condy." The nurse pressed the button and the doors to trauma opened. Jenny turned around and walked through. Ready to find her husband. _

_A little while later she walked with Abby behind the bed that carried her husband. She heard the doctor explaining his condition but his words didn't seem to reach her. Her eyes were focused on the bed, untill she heard Abby._

"_He's gonna be okay though, right?" You could hear in her voice that she was very worried. The doctor smiled at her. "He should be fine." _

" _I don't wanna hear should be. I wanna hear will be!" _

"_Abby." Jen felt like she had to cut her off, before she got even more upset._

"_Should be is not positive."_

" _Enough. Abbs." The gothic girl gave her an upset look but Jenny didn't care at the moment. Here eyes were focused on her husband's face. The doctor touched her arm. She looked at him._

" _Really Mrs. Shepard-Gibbs. Your husband should be fine." She gave him a small grateful smile as he walked into the room. Abby approached her. _

"_What did he just call you Director?" _

"_Don't tell anyone, we don't want anyone to know. Can you please keep this to yourself? You'll get an explanation later." Abby was about to say something but she saw the pleading look in her boss' eyes._

_The two of them kept standing in front of the window that looked into the room until the doctor returned._

" _I'm always positive, Ms. Sciuto, with an concussion until he wakes. No one knows what's going on inside his brain._

_The rest of the night Jen spent in Gibbs' room. Abby went back to work in the morning. Jenny had insisted on it. That way Abby could update everyone on Jethro's condition. She promised the girl to call as soon as there was any change. Dinozzo called too, to giver her an update about the case. After hiss call she felt a bit better. He made her relive some of her memories with Gibbs, it gave her some faith. The rest of the day was silent. Tony came by in the afternoon and met the doctor who told her about his condition last night. The doctor had just finished his shift and asked her to tell Abby that he didn't abandon Gibbs. He left because his shift was over. Tony smirked at him._

"_So the dog collar and the tat's didn't have anything to do with it?" The doctor smiled knowingly and left the room. Jen looked at Jethro. He looked somehow different, in some kind of pain._

" _Dinozzo, does he look in pain?" Tony said he didn't know. She repeated the question to the doctor who was checking up on him._

"_Was this man a marine?" _

"_Yes. "_

" _Wounded in desert storm?" Jen wasn't sure. Jethro never liked to talk about that part of his life. Another one of the secrets that made their marriage more difficult._

" _He has a purple heart." _

"_That's it. I treated him in Kuwait. Tony interrupted him._

" _Gibbs never told me he was wounded in Desert Storm."_

" _Me either. I saw his purple heart." The doctor continued his story._

_He was in a coma when we evaced him to Frankfurt. Talk about deja vu._

"_But is he in pain?" She repeated her question. In her eyes you could see how worried she was._

" _Not in extreme pain. He may be hurting but we won't know until he can tell us." _

"_Why not give him pain killers just in case?" Tony asked the obvious question._

" _I want him to wake up and that would only deepen his coma." _

" _I just never seen him look like this.Jen's voice was a shaking a little_

" _I have, that's why I remembered him. That's the expression he had in ' 91. It's more anguish then pain"._

_The rest of the day Jenny stayed at the hospital. Ducky also visited. He told her to go home and rest a bit. And that he would stay until she returned. She didn't want to go but Ducky wouldn't take no for an answer. So she headed to the NCIS building to get some files she was working on. She was just walking down the stairs when Ducky called._

"_Jethro is awake. But I'm afraid he doesn't remember anything about the last fifteen years. He didn't even recognize me." Jenny sat down on the stairs. She wasn't sure she would be able to stay on her feet. He was awake. And responding. But he lost his memory. He wouldn't remember her. She put her head in her hands and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She called everyone together and told them that Gibbs' was awake. Abby seemed to be the most infected by her words. Abby approached her after the small meeting. _

" _Are you okay Director? I mean if he doesn't remember the last fifteen years." Jenny answered her unspoken question. _

" _No, he won't remember me either." Abby put her hand on Jenny's shoulder. _

"_The memory loss is only temporarily. Normally it returns when they see someone who is very close to them."_

"_I know Abbs that's what Ducky told me." Jen smiled a little. Glad she had someone who could understand how she was feeling. Someone who knew the truth about her and Jethro. It was true, they were having problems these last months, but she still loved him, and only thinking about losing him was too difficult._

"_I'm picking up some of his clothes at home and then I'm heading over there." With a last goodbye Jenny left and headed to Gibbs' house to get some of his clothes. _

_

* * *

__Jenny Shepard walked into the hospital room. Gibbs was asleep. She put her hand in his and stroked it softly. He woke up._

"_Shannon?" His view was a little blurry but he thought he saw Shannon in front of him._

" _No Jethro, it's me, Jenny." She smiled at him. But she saw he didn't know who she was. He looked away, afraid he would dissapoint her._

" _You still don't remember me?" She asked him? He hesitated, He suddenly felt some memories return. Memories of him and the women in front of him in a bed, and they making love._

"_Maybe."_

"_I'm Jenny, we were partners."_

"_After Shannon died?"_

"_Yes." _

"_DId I marry again?_

_Four times_

_He chuckled " no way._

_She laughed with him. His eyes lit up in recognition._

"_You're an ex-wife." Jen laughed._

" _God no, I'm the Director of NCIS." She hesitated. Should she tell him they were married? She was afraid the shock would be too big. The last thing he remembered was being married to Shannon._

_Shannon. Another secret. He had told her about Shannon after they married. They always spent Sunday morning in bed together. And one day. Four weeks after their wedding. He told her about his first wife. And his daughter. At first she had been really upset with him. But when she saw how much he still hurt from their loss she just had to forgive him. She even told him to name his next boat after his daughter._

_Jethro looked a little dissapointed, he thought he had some of his memory back, but it seemed that this one never happened. " For a moment, I thought you were somebody else."_

_Jenny leaned closer to him. And softly whispered: "You remembered us making love, didn't you Jethro?" Gibbs got a little uncomfortable, he sat up straighter and cleared his throat.Jenny smiled._

"_At least that's a start." She hesitated._

"_There is something else you should know." Gibbs looked at her._

"_What do I have a kid somewhere that I forgot about?" Jenny smiled._

"_No that's not it. You asked me if I was an ex-wife. I didn't lie about that." She bit her bottom lip and too a deap breath. "We're still married." _

_Gibbs looked shocked. So that's why she looked so familiar. He reached for her hand. She grabbed it. He softly stroked her hand with his thumb. He noticed her left hand was bare. _

"_But why aren't you wearing a ring?" _

"_We're kind of in a rough patch right now. And no one at work knows we're married." _

_Suddenly his head started to hurt. It was like they put a thousand needles in his head. In his mind he saw the two of them on either side of the bed in an argument about something that had to do with work. He heard her distant voice asking if he was okay._

"_Yeah I'm fine."_

* * *

Jenny shook her head out of the memory. She had arrived at the crime scene. Normally the Director of NCIS didn't interfere with cases. But this time it was different. It was personal. She got out of the car and walked over to the others. She could hear Gibbs asking for an update. McGee answered him. 

"The only thing we found was the note. We sent it to Abby and she'd call us as soon as possible with the results." Ziva contiuned.

"I already went to the hospital security to ask for the recordings of the camera's that are looking out over the exit and the parking lot."

"Good work everyone. McGee I want you to stay here and interview people. Ziva I want you to look over those security tapes." Gibbs finished his instructions and looked over his shoulder, Jen stood behind him, observing him at work. He already knew that is was her who was standing behind him. He could always tell when she was close.

"Jethro. Did you.."

"Yes."

"And.."

"That too, but.."

"Sure, I'll.."

Ziva looked at the two of them. She recognized what they were doing. When she was little, her grandparents used to do it all the time. She always wondered how they could do have a conversation with this many words. Her grandfather told her it was because their souls were connected and it made them able to read each other's minds. It was a connection little people shared.

Jen walked off and Gibbs looked at them again.

"What are you still doing here? Get to work. The Director said she would do a backgroundcheck on Tony and his girlfriend, to find out who might have taken him."

McGee was stunned. When did they discuss that? Just now? They only spoke about ten words.

"What are you waiting for McGee. A written invitation?" He snapped out of his thoughts.

"No Boss."

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**_I know, the end sucked. But I don't care. I needed to end this in a way. Next chapter Tony and more Jibbs :-)  
Reviews make me update faster so press the pretty button._**


	4. Searching

**_Thank you for the reviews. I'll try to reply to them more often.  
So, here's a new chapter, I tried to write some angst but I found out I'm not really good at that. To make up for it I wrote some Jibbs in it too. :)_**

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**Chapter 4: Searching**

"Wake up."

Tony groaned as someone roughly shook him awake. He opened his eyes. He was sitting on a chair in some kind of hall, his hands were tied behind his back. He looked around and remembered where he was. Or rather with whom he was. Jeanne and her father. He remebered getting in the limo, greeting her father and drinking champagne. The drink! He wanted to slap himself for being so stupid. Of course, the drink had a sedative in it.

A man stepped out of the shadows. Tony recognized him as Kort, the guy form CIA who worked under cover for la Grenouille

"Mr. Anthony DiNozzo. Didn't your father tell you to keep you nose out of someone else's business?"

"Well no, he didn't actually. The only thing I learned from him was how to keep my liquor down."

"Aw, that's too bad. So, Mr. DiNozzo. Can you tell me where Jasper Shepard is?"

"Who?"

"You don't know? Maybe Vladimir can help you remember." Out of the shadows came another man. He looked huge and was cracking his knuckles.

"I really have no idea who you're talking about."Kort motioned for Vladimir to come. Vladimir hit Tony in the stomach. Tony coughed and bended over in pain.

"Not even a tiny hint?" Vladimir was about to hit again but then another voice sounded.

"Let me, interrogate him for a while. I'm sure I'll be able to make him talk."

* * *

"Abby, what do you have for me?" Gibbs walked into the lab and approaced the girl. 

"What no Caff-Pow! Gibbs? I'm so dissapointed." Abby pouted a little. Gibbs showed her his other hand. In this one he held her favourite drink and handed it over.

"Why thank you." Abby showed him a big smile and turned around to her computer. "So I checked the note for fingerprints. But the only ones I could find were from Tony. I think they let him hold it. Or they used paper he had in his car. Inside the car the only things I could find were from Tony and I think someone female. Maybe his girlfriend." She said with a suggestive tone.Gibbs looked at her. "Anyway. Ziva brought the tapes of the hospital. Tony left with a woman the day before yesterday at 14.15. I was able to make a clear side shot of her face and with that photo I searched through.." Gibbs cut her off.

"Abbs get to the point."

"Not very patient today, are we? It was Dr. Jeanne Benoit. His girlfriend. Her address is the same as Tony's. Also the camera's that look out over the parking lot showed them getting into a car at 14.18. The car was a limousine, there was no image of the plates of the car but I was able to make a shot of the chauffeur. It's running through the image search right now." Gibbs walked off. Abby mumbled to herself.

"A simple 'thank you' was too much apparently." From just outside the lab she heard him knocking on the glass. She turned around, he signed "Thank you" and winked at her. She smiled as he walked off and got back to her computers.

* * *

Tony looked up into a familiar face. 

"Jeanne."

"Hey, Tony." Jeanne smiled at him.

"Does you're dad treat all your boyfriends like this or am I just special."

"Cut the crap Tony, you know why you're here. So why don't you tell me all you know about you're Director's daddy."

"Well apparently his name is Jasper." He smirked.

"Not in a very sharing mood, are we?" Jeanne got on her knees in front of him. In her hand she held a knife. With the point of the knife she slowly made her way up his thigh. Tony could feel the soft pressure on his leg. It wasn't enough to make a real cut but the way it was headed scared him the most.

"Can you leave those parts out of this? I always thought you were rather fond of them."

Jeanne put more pressure on the knife. There was a little drop of blood visible on his upper thigh.

" I don't know. You could just tell me why you were tracking down my father." The knife continued it's path. Tony saw that it was only a few inches away from his crotch. He swallowed.

"Fine, I'll talk. But I'll only tell you're father." Jeanne smiled and put the knife away.

"I'll tell him, you want to see him." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. She stood up.

"Vladimir, can you take Tony to his room? Daddy will want to talk to him later."

* * *

Jenny and Gibbs were sitting at the table in her office. Files and papers filled the table. Most of them were marked classified. Those were the files that were part of the operation the Director and Tony had set up. Jenny had updated Gibbs about everything. Including the fact that Jeanne was the daughter of La Grenouille and that Tony's mission was to get closer to her, to find him. 

"Did you contact you father?"

"No, I was afraid they bugged my phone so I left an untraceable cellphone on the kitchentable."

"When did you do that?"

"I went home during lunch. I also left a note for my dad to call me." Jen sighed, got up and paced around the room.

"I just hope he calls soon."

Gibbs walked over to her and led her to the couch. They sat down next to each other. Jen leaned against his shoulder, her hand on his chest. Something she hadn't done in a while. It was somehow funny. These last days they had been closer than they had been for a while. Not that she was complaining. She loved having him around more. To see him more often and to be able to touch him again. To feel his heart beating again under her hand.

Gibbs put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder.

"He'll be fine. We'll find the Frog and he'll be safe again."

Jenny closed her eyes. But suddenly the door opened.

"I did it! I did it!"

Abby stormed inside and she had a photo in her hand. The door fell closed behind her.

It wasn't until then she saw the Director and Gibbs sitting together. Gibbs tried to get up and explain to Abby the scene she saw in front of her.

"It's okay Gibbs, I know about the two of you."

"You do?"

"Wait you didn't know I knew?" The two of them looked at Jenny who had sat up and now looked a bit guilty.

"Sorry, I think I forgot to mention it Jethro. When you were in the hospital after the bomb the doctor called me Mrs. Shepard-Gibbs and Abby heard him." She quickly changed the subject to avoid further questions.

"So you found something Abby?"

The gothic girl nodded exitedly. She showed them a picture of the limo's license plate.

"There was another camera, one at the exit of the parking lot. The plate is registered under the name of Jeanne Benoit. This is the address. She handed Gibbs the paper. He looked at it.

"I'll head over there with McGee and Ziva, maybe we can find something there."

"Jethro, you know you can't go in there without a warrant." Jenny called after him but he was already out the door. She quickly followed him. She caught up on him at the top of the stairs. She grabbed his arm.

"Jethro, you know it's no use."

"I'm sorry Director, but there is something in that appartement, that can help us find DiNozzo."

"You're gut again?" Jen looked into his eyes. They stared at each other for a few minutes. Neither wanting to look away before the other did.

"Fine. I'll try to get a warrant."

* * *

They pushed him into a room and locked the door behind him. It looked like it was some kind of office. The windows were taped shut and darkened. The only light in the room came from the lamp that hung in the middle of the room. Tony walked around in the room. Looking for some kind of hint to his location. Searching for clues wasn't easy when your hands were tied behind your back. He heard a noise outside. It sounded like a plane. Maybe they were somewhere near an airport. Hee looked around the room again. There was a desk in the corner, maybe there was something in the drawers that could identify his location. He sat down on his knees and pulled at the top drawer with his teeth. He lost his grip on the handle and his mouth slammed shut. 

"Stupid drawer." He tried it again and this time it worked. Apparently la Grenouille and his men thought he wouldn't be able to find things. He grinned.

"Never underestimate Anthony DiNozzo."

In the drawer there were some papers, because of the little light he wasn't able to read them. He turned around and tried to get them out of the drawer with his hands. After a few failed attempts he managed to grab them. He threw them on the floor and saw that one of them had a logo on it. It was the logo of an amateur flying club just outside the city. He knew the club had their own little hangars.

Suddenly he heard a sound from the hallway. The sound of someone with keys. He quickly kicked the papers under the desk. He was just in time. He leaned against the desk to close the drawer as the door opened.

"Mr. DiNozzo. My daughter tells me you have something to share with us?"

"Yes, she had some convincing arguments." René Benoit chuckled.

"She gets that from her mother. Now tell me what you know about operation Lodestone."

"I have one little request. Can my mother first? I was supposed to meet her today and I don't want her to worry."

"You think we believe that?"

"Ask Jeanne, she was supposed to meet her." La Grenouille looked at Tony, to see if he was lying or telling the truth.

"Fine, but we'll be monitoring your call."

Tony hid his smile. He bluffed about the thing with his mother. Now all he had to do was to convince them to let him use his own phone.

"There is one more thing. She's not much of a people person and never answers an unknown number. So I kinda need to use my own phone."

Tony saw that René was thinking about his statement. Him calling would also take care of an alibi.

"All right you have one minute."

Vladimir untied his hands and La Grenouille handed him his phone.

-----(AN this is the conversation between Jenny and Tony. Jenny's words are _italic_.)—

"Hi, mom"

"_Wh- oh Hello Tony." _

"I wanted to tell you that I can't meet you today. Jeanne isn't feeling well."

"_I'm sorry dear I hope she feels better soon. __You taking good care of her?"_

"Of course mom, you know me."

"_That's why I asked."_

"Very funny. Oh can you tell Brain Dempsey that he's an amateur. He should've never bet that much on a dogracing track. I'm sure when I'll talk to him."

"_I will hon. Now go take care of you're girlfriend."_

"Bye mom."

"_bye hon."_

Tony handed over the phone to Vladimir.

"Here, I'll tell you everything I know."

La Grenouille smirked, he never thought it would've been this easy.

* * *

Jenny put down her phone. She looked up at Gibbs. 

"That was Tony. He talked to me like I was his mom. I think someone was listening in to our conversation. He was asking me to tell Brian Dempsey that he's an amateur. That he never should've bet that much on a dogracing track." She looked a bit confused.

"I know the last part of the code. It's a codeword we came up with during this mission. He said that they were asking him about Lodestone."

Gibbs looked at her for a moment. He remembered the last time a phone call gave him a hint.

"Brain Dempsey. Wasn't that the name of the brother of that guy that held you hostage?"

Jen's eyes lit up.

"You're right, it was. I think he means he's in a hangar or somewhere with planes."

"Yeah, but where?"

The two of them thought it was better to let more people think about this riddle. They walked down the stairs and walked over to Ziva and McGee's desks.

"Does one of you know a link between flying, or planes and amateurs?" Ziva looked up at them.

"A what?"

"DiNozzo called. He said something about Brian Dempsey and amateurs. Dempsey is the guy whose brother kidnapped the Director and the other thing."

"Boss, maybe it has to do something with the amateur flying clubs. I think there are a few just outside the city."

"Good thinking Agent McGee. Why don't you find their names and give them to Abby. We'll head over there now." Jenny complimented McGee and she and Gibbs walked off to the elevator to head for Abby's lab. They stepped inside the elevator. They were the only ones there. As soon as the doors closed Jen bowed her head and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"This is all my fault. If I hadn't pulled Tony into this, none of it would've happened."

Gibbs pushed the emergency stopbutton. He lifted her face up and saw the tears in her eyes.

"Listen to me Jen. None of this is you're fault. DiNozzo knew what he was getting into."

Jen let out a small sob.

"I still feel responsible."

Gibbs pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. Jen buried her face in crook of his neck. She smelt his familiar scent. A little caffeine, a little mint and something that was just Jethro. They stood there for a little with their arms wrapped around each other and then he pulled back, he lifed her face with his hands again and wiped her tears away with his thumbs. He wanted to kiss her forehead but she stopped him and put a finger on his lips. He looked stunned. She grinned and brought his face down and let his lips meet hers in a soft kiss. It was their first kiss in a really long time. She wasn't even sure when their last kiss had been. She wrapped her arms around his neck and played a little with his hair. His hands were still on her face, but they slowly made their way down to her hips. Following every curve of her body. She moaned softly into his mouth. This really wasn't the time to be doing this. They had a case to work on.

The case! Jen abruptly ended the kiss.

"We'd better get down to Abby." Gibbs was still surprised about her actions. He wanted to say something but Jen just looked in front of her. Maybe she had been as surprised as he was. The elevator was one floor above their destination. He scraped his throat.

"Jen."

She looked at him. The question was obvious in his eyes. She smiled at him and gave him a peck on the lips.

"It's okay Jethro."

The doors opened and she walked out of the elevator. He was too stunned to follow her. As the doors almost closed he shot back to reality and followed her to Abby's lab.

* * *

**_Press the pretty button, you know you want to..  
more reviews is more Jibbs in next chapters :-)_**


	5. Problems

_**I'm sorry that it took so long for me to update. Between reading HP&DH and being a good aunt, I had little time left for writing. **__**This chapter is a bit shorter than the last ones. I had a little difficulty writing it. I hope everyone likes it :)**_

**

* * *

Chapter 5: ****Problems**

The only light Tony could see was an old lamp hanging above him. He felt like he was in some kind of movie. 'Now what would Bond do?' he thought. Maybe his movie obsession would be useful this time. La Grenouille sat on a chair in front of him. On his left stood Kort, the ex-CIA and to his right, Jeanne. Tony looked at her, he searched her face for some kind of reaction but it stayed the same. Her expression didn't betray a thing. Vladimir stood behind him. Ready to follow his boss' orders. Tony looked at la Grenouille and waited.

"I think you said you had something to tell me?" René lit his cigar, put it in his mouth and leaned back in his chair.

"Right," Tony was a little nervous, it would take the team fifteen minutes to get here, maybe ten if Ziva was driving. And that was only if his calculations were right. "Can you get me something to drink? I'm kind of thirsty." He scraped his throat and tried his best to look sincere.

Vladimir's grip on his shoulder became stronger. Tony winced. "You know what, I'm not that thirsty anymore."

"The only thing I know is that Jasper Shepard's daughter wants to get revenge on you for your involvement in her father's death. She never believed it was a suicude."

René took his cigar out of his mouth and blew a circle of smoke. "And you expect me to believe that? That cannot be her only reason for doing this."

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "That's all she told me, I think she's using rule number 4."

René leaned forward on his chair. "Rule number 4? And what might that be?"

"Gibbs rule number 4: The best way to keep a secret is to keep it to yourself." 'Okay shut up now,' Tony could feel his mental headslap. Why was he telling all this?

"But why did she tell you if the best way was to keep it to yourself?" Could it be? It sounded like la Grenouille was interested to hear something about the Gibbsrules. Maybe he could use it to buy himself some time.

"That belongs in the second part. Tell one other person, if you must. There is no third best." Kort looked at his watch. He tapped la Grenouille on his shoulder.

"We have to go. They're probably on to this location by now."

Tony looked surprised up at Kort. "Where are we going?" la Grenouille chuckled

"Did you really think I bought your mommy-call story?" Vladimir lifted Tony up by his clothes pushed him out the door to a van. Inside the van they blindfolded him Kort and Jeanne sat in the front of the van and La Grenouille, Vladimir and Tony sat in the back.

"Where are we going?" Tony asked again. Vladimir answered, already annoyed with his behaviour.

"Like we're going to tell you."

"Can't blame a guy for trying." Tony sighed. There went his last chance to freedom. He was out of ideas, he just hoped Gibbs would find him soon. The rest of the ride they drove in silence.

* * *

"What do you have for me Abbs?" Gibbs asked as he entered het lab, a little after Jenny. 

"What no Caff-Pow?" Abby pouted.

"Not this time, I'll get you one later."Abby smiled at him.

"Fair enough." She turned back to her computers and started her tale. Jenny and Gibbs walked over to the big screen. On it was a map op the city with a few places that lit up.

"So these are all the places with landing possibilities. I narrowed it down to the places that are connected to amateur flying clubs. That are these three. The phone call was too short to make a precise location but it did rule out one of the locations, the one east of the city. That leaves these two. I personally think it's this one." She clicked a place on the map. A detailed map of an airport appeared. "This one is less well known and hardly used. But for the last weeks things have been pretty busy there. There was an increse of incoming flights with 200."

Jenny and Gibbs stepped closer to observe the map. In their minds they were forming all kinds of plans. Their eyes scanning the map for entry points and possible hideouts.

"Good job Abby." Gibbs kissed her temple and he walked off together with the Director.

Abby turned around and picked Bert up from the shelf behind her. "I hope they find Tony soon, Bert." She squeezed the toy close and it farted, like some kind of reassuring response.

* * *

Tony felt the twigs breaking underneath his feet. They had just arrived at their new location. Someone pushed him forward, to keep him walking. But it was kind of difficult since he still had his blindfold on. He stumbled over what he thought was a branch and almost fell. 

"Can't you take that blindfold off?"

"We're nearly there. Grab my hand." A soft feminine voice to his left said. Jeanne took his hand and led him inside somewhere. Jeanne's father spoke up.

"Jeanne, bring him to the back room. And you can take off his blindfold there." Tony felt her hand in his again and she led him further. He heard her opening a door, pushing him inside and closing it behind them. She took off his blindfold. He blinked a couple of times with his eyes. Adjusting to the light. She was standing right in front of him. The cold look in her eyes was gone.

"Are you okay?" she asked, he could hear that she was a little worried.

"I'm fine. Jeanne, I just wanted to tell you" she put her hand on his mouth to keep him from speaking.

"We don't have time now. I left some things in our appartement that can help them find you. If their smart enough. All you have to do is stall long enough or give false information. Okay?" He looked surprised, he thought he had to convince her to help him. But she made it all possible on her own.

"Okay." He smiled, not his usual smirk but a real smile. "Why are you helping me?"

"Because I promised my mama not to follow papa's footsteps." Jeanne smiled, "She always wanted me to become a doctor. And because I do care about you. If you believe me or not." She looked away, anything to avoid his eyes.

"Jeanne, look at me. Please." His pleading voice made her turn her gaze back on him. "I care about you too. It's just the wrong place and the wrong time."

She smiled. "Is that another line from one of your favourite movies?"

"Nope, that one's all DiNozzo." He smiled back and kissed her forehead.

"You better go back." She closed her eyes as she felt his lips on her forehead. She walked slowly out of the room and locked it from the outside. Tony now had the time to look around his room. It looked like some kind of bedroom. They also darkened the windows here. They obviously prepared this before. He walked around the room and tried to look for hints to his location. But this time he really couldn't find anything. He laid down on the bed. Waiting for La Grenouille and his men to continue his interrogation and thinking about what Jeanne said.

* * *

Ziva, McGee, Gibbs and Jenny were discussing their mission in the middle of the sqaudroom. They had decided it would be best to do an surprise attack. They were just reviewing the last details. 

"They're probably holding DiNozzo in one of the offices next to the hangar. We split up in two teams an each team will invade an office. We're always in contact by our comms. Any questions? Gibbs looked around the small group.

"No? Good. Gear up people."

"Boss, wait, who is my partner this mission?" Gibbs sighed "I told you Probie, you're with Ziva."

The four of them put their gear on and headed out. After a short ride they arrived at the runway. Their van was parked out of sight. That way they wouldn't alarm la Grenouille and his men. McGee and Ziva went first. They headed for the office the furthest away. Gibbs and Jenny soon followed. The two teams knocked the doors in at the same time. McGee and Ziva entered the office with their guns raised, ready to shoot. But they didn't see anything.

"All clear Boss."

"This one is too McGee, let's look inside the hangar."

They walked to the huge doors of the hangar together. Luckily there was a smaller door one at the side. Silently they entered. It looked like someone had packed their stuff really fast.

"McGee and David, go back to the offices and look for any evidence that Tony was here or where he might be now."

"On it boss."

"Jethro, maybe it's better to look at the other place that Abby found. We could be wasting a lot of time here." Gibbs looked at Jenny and motioned with his arm to the hangar they were standing in.

"Jen, look around, does this look like it's hardly used? I don't think so." Jenny sighed and the two of them searched through the hangar, maybe they could find something that could lead them to Tony.

"Gibbs, I found something." Ziva and McGee entered the hangar again. In her hand, Ziva held a button. "Isn't this from Tony's coat?"

"I have no idea, do I look like the person who would notice something like that? Let's bring it over to Abby."

"Boss, Ziva's right, this is from Tony's coat, I'm sure."

"Fine, at least we know he was here. Did you find anything else?" Ziva and McGee shook their heads. "We didn't either. I hope we have that warrant to search his appartment soon." Gibbs looked at Jen, she rolled her eyes.

"I'll call Cynthia, it should've arrived by now."

* * *

Back at NCIS headquarters, Gibbs and Jenny walked up the stairs to her office. They approached Cynthia's desk. 

"Cynthia do you have the warrant?"

"Here is it Director." Cynthia handed her the warrant but before she could properly read it Gibbs took it from her.

"Thanks." He walked off to get his team ready for the search. Jenny watched him walking away with a stunned look on her face.

"Director? Ma'am?"

"Yes, Cynthia?"

"I just wanted to remind you, you have that ball at the White House tonight."

Jenny slapped her forehead. "I completely forgot about that. Is there any way you can cancel?"

"No, Ma'am. But I had your dress brought to your office." Cynthia smiled up at her, Jen took a relieved sigh.

"Thank you Cynthia."

Jenny entered her office and found the dress on her couch. Her phone rang. She walked over to her desk to pick it up.

"Director Shepard?"

"_It's Cynthia, ma'am. I just remembered, the invitation said you had to bring a date."_

Jenny groaned as she hung up the phone. She bit her lip, she could ask Ducky to take her again, but on the other hand. She could also ask Jethro to accompany her. She knew he didn't like dressing up like that but they were on better terms now, maybe she could bribe him into coming. 'I'll ask him after he returns,' she mentally decided.

* * *

_**I wanted to end with a cliffhanger but I decided to leave that for later. (A)**_

_**I know that there was not much Jibbs.**__** It looks like no one wants it :P I said more reviews is more Jibbs and I only got 3! Well those three get their reward the next chapter. ;)**_


	6. Dancing

**_I feel like I'm going far OOC. I hope you all don't mind and I'll try to get more in character again :)  
This time a longer update. Filled with Jibbsmoments. I hope everyone likes it! I'm going away on a holiday soon and I won't have the ability to update. I hope I do have the time to write a little more since school starts soon after that.  
Until then, I hope this chapter keeps you satisfied!  
and don't forget to review!_**

**

* * *

Chapter 6: Dancing**

This time with the warrant the team entered Tony's appartement. It wasn't hard to open the door using some 'special tools'. They looked around, starting in the hall and working their way to the livingroom. It didn't look like there was anything out of place. On the wall there is a big screen tv and in front of it on the floor some dvd's that probably should've been in the bookcase with the rest of them.

"I never thought Tony's home would be this, clean."

"Don't be surprised McGee, his girlfriend lives here now." Ziva answered as she sees the pictures of Jeanne and Tony in the bookcase in front of the movie collection. McGee walked across the room and stood beside her in front of the bookcase. He leaned forward to get a better look at the pictures. Gibbs slapped them both on the back of their head.

"We're not here to look at pictures. Otherwise I would've brought my wedding albums. Go search the appartement."

"Yes, Boss." The two of them hurried off. Ziva searched through Jeanne's bag. It was ffilled with medical research. McGee looked behind the books, movies and paintings, searching for some kind of secret hidingplace.

Gibbs stood there for a moment observing them. Then he walked straight to the bedroom and picked up the picture on the night table. He turned the frame around and took the back off. Inside there was a small piece of paper.

"I got it!" he unfolded it as he walked back into the livingroom.

"How did you know where that was?"

"Easy Probie, she was a woman. It had to be obvious, close by and not something people would touch. Plus the sentimental value." He showed them the picture, it was one taken by someone else or made with self timer. It was a picture of Tony and Jeanne sitting together on the couch, her head on his shoulder as his head leaned against hers.

Gibbs read the paper, the only thing it said was:

_JBenoit_

_225MrsDN_

"It looks like some kind of code."

"Can I see it?" McGee reached for the paper, the look on Gibbs' face made his hand stop in mid air, "Please."

"Knock yourself out Probie." McGee studied it for a moment, he opened his mouth, about to say something but then closed it again. He hesitated.

"It could be her hospital login codes. When I was in there I saw one of the doctors enter a similar username. His first letter and surname."

"Is there any way we can get into that system?" McGee hesitated again. "I think I can do it, but I'll need Abby's help." Ziva walked passed the two of them playing with the car keys she somehow snatched from McGee.

"I'll drive. Let's go." She walked out of the door, Gibbs walked after her. McGee put his hand in the pocket of his jacket. His keys were gone. He was stunned he hadn't felt a thing. Then Gibbs' voice sounded from the hallway.

"Today, Elflord."

He snapped out of it and hurried after the other two.

* * *

The elevator doors opened, McGee, Ziva and Gibbs stepped out. They were going to put their gear back and then go over to Abby's lab to find out if there was something to find in Jeanne's hospital files. Jenny approached Gibbs' desk as he was putting his things away. 

"Jethro, can I talk to you for a moment?" Gibbs looked up, her face showed no emotion. There was some kind of mask on her face, the one she always wore at work.

"Sure Director. McGee go find Abby. Ziva, look everything over, there has to be something we missed." He followed her until they stood somewhere where no one could hear them.

Jenny bit her lip. She couldn't believe she was about to ask him this. She took a deep breath.

"There is this ball at the White House tonight, Cynthia just reminded me of it. And I was wondering.." She looked at him, his tried to hide his amused face. She knew he knew what she was about to ask him, but apparantly he wanted her to say it.

"What Jen?"

"Will you come with me?" She smiled at him. He stood there for a moment, pretending to think about her offer.

"Fine, but only because I know you want to see me in uniform again." He smirked an walked away, he could hear her laugh behind him before she called after him.

"Be ready at 7!"

He headed for the elevators to see if Abby and McGee had come up with anything. He also picked up a Caff-Pow for Abby, just like he had promised before.

"Abby, McGee, did you find anything?" He walked into the lab and saw the two sitting next to each other in front of the computers.

"Gibbs! You brought me my Caff-Pow! Thank you!" said Abby exitedly as she took the Caff-Pow from him. She drank half of itbefore talking to him again.

"So do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

"Well, let's start with the good."

"We were able to hack into the hospital system, an used her username and password to get in. It took a while because apparently people don't want others to break into hospital software."

Gibbs cut her off before she could start a rant.

"The bad?" McGee continued:

"We were able to open most of her files, but there were a few incryped ones. And since we don't have the code, it might take a while to decode them.".

"I want you to call me as soon as you have it." Gibbs walked out of the lab, heading for a Starbucks and then home. He had a ball to go to.

* * *

Later that night, two hours after he had left. Gibbs returned to NCIS. Abby and McGee had decoded one of the files. And he decided to check in before he left. He had told Jenny he would meet her in the squad room. 

"Wow Gibbs! You're looking fancy tonight. Got a date?"

"Kinda, Abby what did you find?"

"The only one we have been able to decode was some kind of message from Jeanne. I think it was an email directed to her mother." Abby looked at Gibbs, waiting for him to say something.

" Go on, what was in it?"

"Nothing much, just that she was happy and missed her mom, thing that stood out was this part: "I'm sorry mama, that I did what papa asked me to do. I know I said I would never enter his business. But I'll try to make this work, and when it's over. We can live in peace."

"McGee, do you have anything on her mother and father?"

"Well, her mother is Nicole Benoit, she's American. And her father is René Benoit, aka.." Gibbs finished his sentence "La Grenouille. Okay, you two decode those files." Gibbs exited an when he was out of sight, Abby jumped up from her chair and pointed at McGee excitedly.

"Tim! Didn't you write another decode program?" McGee looked up.

"That's right! I forgot about that one, but we can only access it from my computer in the sqaudroom." The two of them almost run out of the lab and headed downstairs.

Gibbs looked at his watch, it was almost seven. Finally the elevator doors opened and he walked over to his desk to leave some last things behind. He put his cell phone in his drawer but left his wedding ring in his pocket, just like always, and walked over to the stairs, but when he looked up he saw that Jen was already coming down. She looked amazing. He had a hard time to keep his mouth from falling open. She wore an amazing forest green dress. It was off the shoulder and showed some cleavage. It looked like it was made for her. He smiled a little, she wore the necklace he had given her on their first anniversary. He had seen her looking at it all the time when they were in Paris and he decided it would be a perfect anniversarygift. And he had been right.

As his mind wondered off to that night she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Jethro? What are you thinking?" He smirked a little.

"Our first anniversary." She smirked back, her hand touching the necklace.

"Which part? Giving the necklace or my 'thank you' later that evening." He tilted his head a little.

"Both." The two of them smiled at each other. He offered her his arm and she took it. She rested her hand lightly on his arm. But then she pulled his arm down more and slid her hand down his arm and tucked her hand in his. He felt her fingers intwining in his and some kind of metal band on her hand. He lifted their hands to eyelevel. Jen bit her lip, hoping he wouldn't make some kind of comment about it.

"You shouldn't do that."

"What?"

"Bite your lip that often." Jen sighed, glad he didn't make some kind of big deal out of it.

"I'll try not to." Gibbs smiled a little, only the corners of his mouth went up for a moment. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his own ring.

"So what do you say, Mrs. Gibbs, are we suddenly okay?"

"Shepard-Gibbs, and we're getting there." She took his ring from him and slid it on his ringfinger. He lifted her hand to his mouth and gave it a soft kiss.

The two of them walked towards the elevators and just as Gibbs wanted to push the button the doors opened. In front of them stood Abby and McGee.

"Did you find something Abbs?"

"No we're just checking something on McGee's computer. By the way Director you look great."

"Thank you Abby." She smiled at the goth girl. "Agent McGee? You can close your mouth now." McGee was still standing in front of them doing a great impressionation of a goldfish. Gibbs slapped him, McGee rubbed the back of his head. He was about to respond but Abby cut him off.

"Ohh Director is that the ring? I've never seen you wear it before!" Jen held out her hand and Abby took it and looked at the ring more closely.

"Wow, you have great taste Gibbs."

"Thank you Abby, but we really have to go now." The two stepped in the elevator and Abby and McGee looked at them until the doors closed. Abby dragged Tim over to his computer and finally he was able to form some kind of sentence.

"Director Shepard, Gibbs, ring.." He still didn't understand.

"Timmy, Gibbs is married to the Director, has been for a while. Don't tell anyone, now open the program!" Abby pushed him in his chair and he started to type immediately. Abby smiled and looked over his shoulder at the screen to follow his actions.

* * *

They arrived at the White House. Gibbs stepped out first and gave Jenny a hand. She smiled gratefully at him. Getting out of a car in a dress was something she never liked. 

They walked inside and were greeted by Condy.

"Jenny! You're here!" Jen let go of Gibbs' arm and hugged the other woman.

"Sorry we were delayed by the traffic."

"Didn't you bring Ducky with you?" Jen laughed

"I know how much everyone loved to hear his stories but no, he's probably at home."

"So who did you bring?" Condy motioned to Gibbs.

"This is Leroy Jethro Gibbs, my husband."

"So this is the famous Jethro. Pleased to meet you."

"You too, and famous? I'm not sure that's such a good thing." He smiled at her and turned his gaze over to Jenny, she smiled back at him with a knowing look on her face.

"Who me? No that was all Ducky."

"I'll think I'll have a word with Dr. Mallard when we get back."

The three of them walked in the ballroom. There were lots of people there. Women in gowns and men in suits of uniforms. In the middle of the room you could see some couples dancing. They walked over to talk to a few ex-colleagues, Gibbs saw an old marine buddy and he went over to talk to him. Jenny kept talking to their old NCIS colleagues.

"I haven't seen you in so long! This 'Director Shepard thing, when did that happen?" "They needed a new one and Jethro wasn't an option." The three of them laughed.

"And Laura, how are you? It's been so long since I heard from you."

"Well it's Mrs. Blake now," Laura showed Jenny her ring. "but for the rest, I've been good. But enough about me. Any new men in your life?"

"I've been married for six years now," but before she could continue she felt an arm slip around her waist. Jenny leaned a bit into the embrace, already knowing who it was.

"Excuse me, Laura, Bill. I just have to steal my wife for a dance." Gibbs and Jenny turned around and walked to the dancefloor. His arm still around her waist.

Laura and Bill looked at the two, dancing together with not much space between them and it looked like they only had eyes for each other.

Laura sighed, "I always knew those two would get together." Bill got an old sheet out of his pocket. It looked like it was a couple of years old. He looked over it and then started to do a little dance.

"I won!"He handed over the pool sheet to Laura, and he was right. His bet, that they would get married before Jenny had worked there for two years, was apparently right.

"Do you want to pay cash or credit?" Laura slapped his arm. His little dance had attracted some eyes, she saw Gibbs and Jenny look over.

"They don't need to know what we did. Hush." She quickly folded the paper and Bill put it away.

* * *

"Didn't I tell you they had a pool going?" 

"Now I remember who DiNozzo reminds me of." Jenny smiled at Gibbs. She couldn't even remember the last time they had danced together. But tonight they were making up for it. Her eyes met his and she tried not to get lost in his blue eyes. She failed as his eyes lit up when he smiled at her. It was like there was no one in the room besides them. The voices in the background turned softer and the music guided them over the dancefloor. His hand on the small of her back, touching her skin and pulling her closer. Not too close to become inappropriate but just enough. She smiled as she felt his fingers draw something on her back. She was glad she decided to wear a dress that was low cut in the back. She felt the tiny sparks fill her whole body in a comforting warmth.

Gibbs smiled a little as he saw her close her eyes in appreciation. She looked so beautiful when she did that. He pulled her even closer and her eyes quickly opened.

"Jethro, not here." She softly said as she let her gaze travel the room.

"Why not Jen?" He smiled at her and leaned down and whispered in her ear. "No one's looking." And he was right no one seemed to pay attention to the couples on the floor and the people dancing only had eyes for their partners. She looked at him again and he leaned down and kissed her. She was a little surprised, it wasn't like him to be so public in showing his affection. Except for headslaps. The kiss was short but sweet and filled with love. She rested her head on his shoulder. Not caring if anyone saw them. She could feel his heart beating close to hers. Just the feeling of his heart next to hers, and smelling his amazing scent made her calm down.

They danced for a while until the soft notes faded and the crowd applaudedThey left their little world and walked off the dancefloor.

"I think I'm going to call McGee, see how they are doing." Jenny sighed.

"Jethro not now, you promised to leave it alone for tonight."

"Well, I'm sorry Director for trying to find one of my,.. your agents!" He looked a bit annoyed, she knew he was worried and wanted to find Tony, why didn't she understand?

Jenny looked in his eyes, she could see he was irritated and worried. She knew how he felt, she felt it too. But tonight was supposed to keep their minds off the case and she really believed it would be better to start tomorrow with a fresh look on things.

"Jethro, they can handle it."

"Well, my gut tells me something else." He walked off to find a phone somewhere. She looked after him with a sad look in her eyes. Hoping he wouldn't stay mad at her.

A few minutes later he returned, he excused her from her conversation and led her off to a quiet corner.

"Abby thinks she found something. I'm going to check it out."

"Jethro, no. You're not going by yourself!"

"Ziva and McGee are still following up on some things and I don't want to interrupt them. I have to."

"Then I'm going with you."

"You can't Jen, you don't have your weapon." Gibbs knew that probably wasn't true but he didn't want her to come with him. Especially because he didn't know what to expect.

She pulled the material of her dress tighter around her leg, so he could see a bump shaped like a weapon underneath it. "Guess again."

They stared at each other. Neither wanting to back down, and letting the other win. They kept glaring for a while. Both getting more angry every second.

"We're waisting time here. And I'm coming with you." Gibbs threw her one more annoyed look "Fine," and walked off with an angry look on his face.

They said their goodbyes and left quickly. They got into the car and drove off. Not noticing the other car following them.


	7. Capture

_**At first I thought I would post the next chapter immediately after I got home from my vacation. Guess what, my plotbunnies didn't agree. They thought they deserved a break too. Selfish beings.**_

_**So here we are almost three weeks later, and I finally finished this chapter. I feel like I'm getting too much OOC, and I don't want that. If you think I really am getting OOC tell me! Please :). I'm sounding like a broken record ;)**_

_**Random: I hate school, We just started and already I have two major papers that I have to write. But I can this story for some kind of extra credit (which I can really use). So right now I just extremely dislike it ;)**_

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Chapter 7: ****Capture**

"Jethro, we can't go in there without a plan. What do you want to do? Follow your gut?"

"Well yeah Jen, that was the plan." She groaned, she always hated it when he had a plan like that. Most of the time, it worked, but she still had a few scars from the times it didn't. They were already close to their destination and they had little time left to come up with some kind of plan. Jenny tried to reason with him one last time.

"I still think we should have some kind of plan. Maybe we could try to find a backdoor and try to surprise the people inside."

"You do that Jen, I'll enter from the front." He got out of the car and after he made sure his gun was ready for any kind of fire, he walked towards the building. She exited the car, still in her dress and heels. Not really a perfect outfit for a mission, but it would have to do. Still frustrated with his stubborness she approached the side of the building. Her weapon in her hand and ready to shoot. At first she tried to find an open door or window, but all of them were locked and some of the windows were even closed off with wood. As she walked further it got more difficult to walk. There were old metal barrels and several other things blocking her way. She hiked her dress up a bit, to make sure she wouldn't rip or tear it. Ally she reached the back of the building, this side was almost bare, the only door in this wall was not far away. She let her dress slip out of her hand, and tried to open the door, she was able to pull the handle down but looked like the door was stuck.

"Come on" she whispered, but it almost sounded like a hiss. Reluctantly the door opened. She slipped inside but then she heard the sound of a stopping car. Quickly and silently she made her way back to the front. She could hear the men talk about something but she was unable to identify their words. There were four of them, two kept standing by their dark van and the other two started to walk towards the front door. One of them, a man with short blonde hair was carrying some keys, probably the ones that belonged to the doors of the warehouse. She was glad Jethro had parked the car somewhere a little more hidden. _Jethro!_ Her mind screamed, he was still inside and probably hadn't heard the car. She rested her back against the wall and slowly let herself down in some kind of sitting position. She had to warn him! Slowly she got up again and checked to make sure the other two hadn't left either. But it looked like they were planning to stay there, the two of them were smoking while leaning against the van. Jenny turned away and made her way back to the door she had opened earlier.

Inside it was dark, luckily it wasn't pitch black, there were still some strands of sunlight able to make their way inside. With her gun in her hands she tried to walk as quietly and quickly as possible. Unfortunately her heels made walking quietly almost impossible.

* * *

After breaking a window at the right side of the building he slowly walked through the warehouse, trying to find some kind of clue. He hoped Jen had found a way to get inside too. He was still unable to understand why she always felt like she should have a plan before going on a mission of somekind. She even planned her way before she went shopping! It looked like the warehouse was filled with all kind of junk. Old furniture, bags with clothes and everything else you can imagine. He kept looking for something out of the ordinary. 

After fifteen minutes he still hadn't found anything. He was kind of wondering where Jen was. Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching him from behind.

"Did you finally get in Jen?" He turned around but in stead of seeing the familiar face of his wife he looked at two weapons pointing at him.

* * *

Suddenly she heard Jethro's voice. It wasn't that far away. But then it was followed by another one. It was already too late, they had found him. Silently she approached them, trying to get as close as she could, without getting noticed. 

"Drop your gun and put your hands behind your head." One of them said, he motioned the other to get the gun. Gibbs dropped his weapon and kicked it towards them. But not too far. He did as they told him and put his hands behind his head. He hoped Jen knew that they had company. The second man got down on his knees and picked up the gun. Gibbs saw his small chance. He kicked the man in his face and dove to the ground, to avoid the bullet he was sure he would get and to reach for his gun.

A shot could be heard through the warehouse. Gibbs was surprised he didn't feel any pain. Getting shot really isn't something you want to feel. Quickly he picked up his weapon and looked up at the first man. The one who told him to drop his gun. But there was no one there, his body was on the ground and his shirt soaked with blood. Behind him he could hear the sound of footsteps. He turned and held his gun high, ready to fire.

"Relax Jethro it's me." Jen walked towards him, her hands slightly raised. He sighed and lowered his arms.

"Took you long enough."

"Don't get smart with me. Without me it would have been you, lying on this floor."

Gibbs mentally rolled his eyes and replied in a sarcastic tone: "Thank you madam Director."

She let a small smile slip, she knew he did mean it. Even if he acted like he was annoyed by her interference.

"We've got to go. There are others outside. I'm sure they heard my shot. Follow me."

Jenny turned around and Gibbs was about to follow her. But then he heard one of the men groan in pain. Apparently the gunshot wasn't enough to knock that one out. Gibbs walked over to him and punched him in the face. Hard enough to keep him out cold for a while. He kicked the other one too. Just to be sure he would stay out for a little while longer. Jen had already picked up their weapons. Making sure there was some munition left, they could probably use it later.

The two of them made their way to the backdoor. Before they exited the building they made sure no one was waiting for them outside by looking though the small cracks of light in the windows. It looked like there was no one waiting for them outside. They probably used the front door, thinking the others were still locked.

They slowly approached the front. Jenny was cursing her dress by now. The next time she would make sure she had some kind of spare set of clothes in the trunk of her car. Floorlength dresses were not something you could use on a mission.

Gibbs and Jen finally reached the front, they stood with their backs against the building. Gibbs, who was the closest to the corner looked around it, checking out their situation.

He didn't like what he saw. Jen had told him there were only a couple more men outside and that they were in one car but it apparently they had called in some backup. There was another car standing there and in front of it five men were talking about something. Two of them looked like they were loading their guns. He saw those two approach the building. He quickly ducked behind the corner. Hoping none of them had seen him.

"I thought you said there were only two more men."

"There were! They must've called backup."

"Gee, you think?" Jen gave him a stern look, the one she always gave him when she was annoyed by him. He knew that look as the back of his hand by now.

"What? You want a plan? Here's what we'll do. There are three of them there, two just entered the building. If we make a run for it we can get to the car. Get your gun ready."

Jen checked her gun as Gibbs looked around the corner once more. The three were still standing in front of one of the cars. He checked the surroundings. About twenty feet away there were some old tires they could use those as a shield while firing at the men.

"Let's go."

He jumped from behind the building and shot one of the man. Behind him Jen had shot one too. Her bullet made it's way into the second one's leg. He grasped his leg in pain and went to the ground. In the confusion Jen and Jethro ran over to the tires. The third man kept firing at them. Behind the tires Gibbs made sure he had a clear shot of the third man. He only needed one single shot, he aimed for the man's heart. After he fired his shot the two others came running out of the building.

"Go! I'll cover for you." He said while shooting at the other two.

"No Jethro, we can take them out together."

"Jen. Go!" He pushed her away from behind the tires. She was about to yell at him but then she felt a bullet going right past her. Luckily La Grenouille didn't use his best minions to check out his buildings. This one could've used some shooting accuracy exercises.

She ran towards the car but then she hear a familiar voice yell in pain from behind her. She looked over her shoulder. Jethro was clutching his leg in pain. It looked like one of the two inside had regained conciousness and approached him from behind.

"Jethro!" Gibbs looked up from his leg and saw Jen standing there, he could hear from her voice that she was worried. He waved his hand at her, and showed her a small smile. Just to assure her he wasn't in too much pain. But the look on her face hadn't dissapeared.

"Behind you!"

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_**Don't forget: More reviews means more Jibbs in next chapters!**_


	8. Rescue

**_Finally after a really, really long time: here it is: an update!  
bows to her imaginary audience thank you, thank you very much. A lot of things happen this chapter. it might seem a bit rushed but it was the most 'logical' way for me to fix things ;-) And who wants to see Tony and Gibbs locked up?! Yeah, that's what I thought :-)  
School is against me, as always. three more papers and lots of tests coming up. But after that, a week long vacation and probably an update!_**

**_Enjoy and please review!_**

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**Chapter 8: Rescue**

Sitting alone in her dark office she tried to take her mind of the last hours. In her hands she held a glass filled with bourbon. Her drink, their drink. She wiped a few stray tears out of her eyes, and drowned the last contents of the glass.

_After her scream he turned and fired but it was too late. She saw his body fall to the ground, she almost ran over but she saw that the other men were aiming for her now. Without looking back she ran back to the car, started it and got out of there as fast as she could._

_In her rearview mirror she could see them carry his body in to one of the cars. The first car was already tailing her. The other was still standing there, Jethro was already in it, they were now putting one of their own men in it. The one he had shot just before they captured him. In her mind she could hear him repeat rule number 20, Never slow down ´. She pushed the gas peddle a little further down and sped off, making quick turns left and right into small alley's trying to find a way to lose her chasers. _

_It took her a while but finally after a few shortcuts and busy road she managed to lose one of the cars. A little further down the road she could see NCIS headquarters. It probably was her best option for now. No one would be stupid enough to try and follow her in there._

_She was right. After the barrier closed behind her the car sped of. Jenny sighed and let her forehead rest on the steering wheel. With all her heart she hoped Jethro was okay. She still couldn´t believe she hadn't even fought back. Maybe Jethro had been right. After being Director for a while she forgot how to be a field agent._

_A_ knock on her door disturbed her thoughts.

"Come in."

The door opened and Ziva entered. In her hands she held a file. Probably the last update on the case.

"Did you find anything?"

"Abby decoded a few more addresses." Ziva handed Jenny the file. Jenny accepted it. with her other hand she put on her glasses. Her eye quickly scanned through the pages. On the last page she found something that surprised her. She instructed Ziva to get McGee ready and told Cynthia to get another team ready for action. Then she opened her drawer and pulled out a card. With her other hand she grabbed the phone and dialed the first number she saw on the card.

"Shepard."

"Dad, can you come over?"

" Where?"

"My office."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes."

She hung up the phone. She was glad it was Cynthia's day off. She really didn't have the time to explain this to her. She went downstairs to the squadroom trying to come up with an excuse to get the last two of Gibbs' team to leave.

"McGee, Ziva, why don't you two go and grab something to eat." The two were already protesting before she had even finished the sentance. "And that's an order".

The two walked off, but Ziva glanced back over her shoulder, there was something wrong with Jenny, she wasn't sure what it was but she would keep it to herself. For now.

Jenny quickly grabbed a cup of coffee to keep herself awake and finally found the time to change out of her formal clothes. Thank god she always kept spare set of clothes in her office. Smelling the coffee she was once again reminded of Jethro and because of that, her anger with La Grenouille rose again. In her frustration she threw her mug across the room and it shattered against the wall. The knocking on her door surprised her, she glanced at the clock. Punctual as always. Taking one last look at the mess she'd made she decided it wasn't worth it to clean it up immediately. She needed her father first.

"Come in."

Her father entered, it looked like he'd just woken up. She glanced at the clock on her desk again. Maybe it was a little early.

" Jennybear, why did you want to see me?"

" Do you recognize this address?" She handed him the document.

"What about it?"

"Why didn't you tell me that our cabin in the woods belonged to La Grenouille!"

"Technically, that isn't true. It did belong to us, but after my 'death' René started to use it as his private prison."

" Why didn't mom do anything about it?"

"Don't you remember what your mother was like, those days?"

He was right and she knew it. Her mother had been a mess after his death. They had moved quickly after his death, just to get rid of all the memories. Jenny had always thought that her mother had sold the cabin.

" Jenny, was that all you needed to know?"

"You said he used it as his private prison?"

" Yes, but I'm not sure he still does."

"Jethro has been taken by La Grenouille's men, I think we should check it."

She hurried out of her office, to tell Ziva, McGee and the backup team to gear up.

"Jennybear!"

She turned, to look at her father."

"I'm coming with you."

"No, dad, he thinks you're dead, if he finds out that you're alive, he's keep on looking for you."

"That doesn't matter. I've planned this day for years now. Well, not exactly like this, but Rene won't be able to tell someone that I'm alive after this. You can count on that."

* * *

After setting up a rescue plan and dividing the tasks, they drove down to the cabin. They were standing at a crossroad, about a mile from the cabin, after that, there was only one path that lead to the cabin and back. Jenny immediately took control over the situation.

"Park the cars here. But keep them out of sight. We need to surprise them. Abby's satellite photos showed us that there are two cars in front of the building, and three guards outside. We have no idea how many people are inside. We'll split up in three teams. The first team is lead by Jasper, Agents Jones, Williams and Evers accompany him. Second team, Peters, James and Smith, you will be lead by Special Agent Foster. The last team will be under my command, McGee, David, and Matthews, you're with me."

The three teams split up, it was probably an advantage that she knew what the building looked like from the inside. She tried to remember the layout of the cabin. The way it used to be when she went there with her parents. There were two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and a study. The living room, kitchen and study all had big windows, those were probably not used as cells. It was way to easy to break a window and jump out of it. The bedrooms were both on the same side of the house. Both had only small windows, easy to hide from the world.

" Let's go."

* * *

_(a few hours earlier):_

The door opened and a body was thrown in his room. There was blood all over the floor. But it looked like the wounds were treated, there were bandages to stop the bleeding a little.

Tony slowly approached the body, he had recognized it immediately but he didn't want to believe it. He turned the man around to get a good look at his face.

"Boss, wake up." He shook him, hoping that he was still alive.

Gibbs groaned from the pain, he opened his eyes, and looked at Tony.

"DiNozzo, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I've been here for a while, what are you doing here?"

"What do you think DiNozzo."

"Well, it's a weird way of rescuing someone."

" Remind me to slap you later."

"Sure boss." They told the other what had happened to them. Tony explained his meeting with Jeanne's father and the story behind his under cover mission. Gibbs updated him on the case, his case. But left out the details of his evening with Jen. It was nothing for Tony to be concerned about. The sound of the door unlocking surprised them. One of La Grenouille's men entered. He put some food down and changed the bandages around Gibbs' leg and shoulder. Gibbs winced in pain when the man touched his shoulder.

Suddenly they heard a noise outside their room. There were gunshots and people barking orders. Taking advantage of the confusion, Tony hit their guard unconsious and wanted to open the door but then he heard voices just outside their door. There were two men talking to each other.

"Well well René, we meet again."

" Ah, Jasper, I've been looking for you."

"So I've heard. I just met your daughter, charming little girl."

"Yours too. They do grow up fast, don't they."

"At least you got to spend time with yours."

Tony whispered at Gibbs "Who's that Jasper guy?"

"Someone you'll find out soon enough, now help me." Gibbs stood up, despite his pain. He looked outside the window, trying to find a way out.

"That won't work Boss, I've tried it already."

But then they hear a gunshot just outside their door. They quickly turned around as the door opened.

"Ah Jethro, I know someone who will be really glad to see you."

Gibbs smiled at his father-in-law. The three of them walked inside the living room. There was the rest of his team. And a few other NCIS agents. They were keeping La Grenouille's last men under shot. Jeanne was with them too. He saw Tony's face relax, it looked like his agents was glad to see his girlfriend, or whatever he called her now, alive. It was then he saw a familiar redhead rushing to him. He felt her arms closing around him.

"I'm so glad you're okay. I was so worried."

He leaned into her embrace. Surprised she allowed herself to show this much emotion in front of their colleagues.

"I'm okay Jen, really."

"We've got to get you checked out. Ducky will take care of you."

He held her face between his hands.

"I'm okay Jen, really." She smiled at him and leaned in.

He looked surprised, and let his eyes glance around the room, almost everyone's eyes were on them. It wasn't everyday they saw the Director hug one of her agents.

" You sure?" he asked her as her lips were only a breath away from his.

"Definitely." She whispered against his lips as she let her lips meet his. Their kiss didn't last long, but it was filled with longing and love. Both weren't entirely comfortable with the public display.

"Director, we need to get him back to NCIS, let Ducky check him out." McGee interrupted them. He was the only one besides Jasper who knew about their marriage. The rest was still stunned. Tony's mouth was even hanging open.

The team, Gibbs, Jenny and father left for NCIS. The others stayed behind to take care of the dead and the ones they had arrested.

In the first car, Jenny sat with Gibbs and her father. Her hand still holding on to Gibbs' hand. Just to reassure herself that he was still there. She could see her father glance at them through the rearview mirror. She smiled at him. And he returned it. It felt really good to be in the same car with the two men she loved the most. It gave her a feeling of safety and security. Next to her she saw Jethro trying to hide the pain.

"Dad, can you hurry? I really think Ducky should check him out."

"Jen I'm fine."

"No you're not, I can see you wincing every time you move your right leg." Gibbs sighed, she always noticed those things, no matter how hard he tried to hide them from her.

"Fine, my leg hurts a little. But it's nothing that Ducky can't fix." She quickly pecked him on the lips.

"Now, was it really that hard to admit it?" He looked at her with a face that clearly said, don't start with me. Trying to hold back her laugh she bit her lip, and she was sure her face had turned redder every second. After a very short time she was unable to hold back her laughter and the sound of her laugh filled the car. It was the first time she'd been able to laugh in a really long time. And frankly she'd needed it. It released some of the left over tension of the last hours. The rest of the car ride was filled with silence. Her hand still wrapped around his.

Behind them, in the other car. Tony was still surprised about his new discovery.

"So, the Director and Gibbs, who would've thought."

"Well she used to tell me about a partner she worked with really closely. But she'd never told me more."

Ziva told him.

"What about you Probie.?"

"I'm not sure they would appreciate it if we discuss their relationship behind their backs.

"Come on Probie, it isn't like they're here to hear it, are they."

McGee sighed, Tony was right. "They're married, and have been for a while."

The other two looked at him in shock. Their Boss was married, and they hadn't noticed!

"How do you know that?"

"After you left last night, they came down the stairs together, both dressed in formal attire. There was some kind of ball at the White House. Abby already knew, I think Gibbs told her. She got all excited about the ring. But she never told me more."

Ziva wondered how she could've been so blind. Back in Caïro, Jenny had told her about her husband, but she had never made the connection. It was so obivous. Maybe that's why she'd never seen it. Far away she could hear Tony ask another question. She left her thoughts alone for a while and joined the conversation again.

"Who was the old guy? I've never seen him around NCIS."

"The Director called him Jasper, but that's all I know."

"What McGeek, no more details to share? Maybe I should ask Abby next time."

"Tony, let's get you checked out first." Ziva cut him off, hoping to divert his attention from her friend and her boss.

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**_Don't forget to review! _**


	9. Return

**_A/N I know it has been forever but I kinda want to graduate this year ;) And I promised myself I wouldn't post this chapter until I was really satisfied with it. that's why it's a bit shorter than the others. _**

**_So I was a bit dissapointed that no one reviewed the last chapter. I would really like to know what you think, even if you think it sucks :) Then I can try to improve it a bit._

* * *

Chapter 9: Return**

After Ducky took care of the shotwound and Gibbs' other injuries, Jen and Jethro drove home to avoid the questions and curious glances at work. Both were exhausted and didn't want to handle that confrontation just yet. At Jen's house both of them immediately went to the bedroom and changed into something more comfortable. They both slipped under the covers, without speaking a word. They both laid on their sides, face to face. Just to cofirm the others presence. Jenny let her fingers trace the outline of his face. It had been just a few hours, but she had missed him. The safety she always felt, knowing he was around to take care of her.

His hand took hers and he laced their fingers together. He could see how much she wanted him here. She looked tired, exhausted, he pulled her close and they changed into a more comfortable position with his arm around her waist and her head resting on his chest. She tried to keep her weight off him, Ducky had said he wasn't that badly injured but she didn't want to cause him even more pain.

"I'm so glad you're okay." She murmured into his chest. He could barely make out the words. He dropped a kiss on her hair.

"I'm not going anywhere." She looked up and their eyes met.

"You promise?"

"I promise." They smiled and he leaned down to kiss her. The kiss was slow and soft, but it was enough for now.

She snuggled a little closer and after a few minutes he heard her breathing even. It was strange how much had changed in the last days. He had stayed over almost every night, and he hadn't even worked on his boat once. There was still some hope left for their marriage, they still needed to work on some things but they were definately getting there. And with a smile on his face and Jen in his arms, he joined her in the land of dreams.

* * *

_The sun showed her head from behind the curtains, it woke him. But when he tried to lift his arm, he felt a weight. He looked to his side and saw a beautiful redhead that was using his arm as a pillow. Her long red hair draped over her back . He could see it dissapear under the covers. She moaned and rubbed her eyes sleepily. On her left hand a ring sparkled. _

"_Mm Morning."_

"_Morning." She turned to look at him. _

"_I had this wonderful dream."_

"_Yeah? What was it about."_

"_we were in this chapel, and there were flowers everywhere and I was wearing this beautiful dress and you were looking really handsome in your tux, and there was this priest."_

"_Really? I think I had that same dream." She giggled_

"_You were wearing a dress?" He chuckled. _

"_No. You were. And I also remember getting rid of that dress later."_

"_Oh really? I remember leaving that tux somewhere in the hall."_

"_Do you want to see if we can relive that dream?"_

"_Oh I'm sure we can." They laughed and then she kissed him, passionately. He turned so he was on top of her and grabbed her hand and showed her the ring._

"_Well, will you look at that. It looks like it wasn't a dream after all."_

_She grinned at him and let her other hand go through his hair._

"_Details, let's just enjoy our wedding night."_

"_Technically, it's.." but he wasn't able to finish his sentance, she had already pulled him close in one of her intoxicating kisses. And who was he to let a kiss like that go to waste._

* * *

Jethro woke up in an empty bed. As he turned to put out his wife's alarmclock he saw their wedding picture, it remembered him of his dream. He smiled, that morning was one he would never forget. It was the first thing he had remembered when he saw Jen after the explosion. He could hear music from downstairs. Silently he made his way down, and approached Jen who was setting up for breakfast in the kitchen. He was almost behind her, but then she turned. 

"Did you really think you could surprise me Jethro?" He grinned.

"I could try."

"Forget it, I had the best teacher. You might know him acutally, he's handsome, has silver hair, and is an amazing kisser."

"Really?" She nodded and made a reassuring sound.

"Like this?" And he captured her lips with his and pulled her a bit closer. He could feel her arms around his neck and her hands playing with the hair in the nape of his neck.Smiling he tried to deepen the kiss but then she suddenly pulled back.

"I don't know. I think he was a better kisser." She grinned and continued setting up breakfast.

"Well I can't have that can I."

He pulled her to him and kissed her passionately, she let out a small moan, he grinned as he pulled back.

"So who is better."

"You. Definately." And she kissed him. Breakfast could wait. He was finally home, and had his wife in his arms, he wasn't going anywhere soon.

Well, maybe upstairs, to their bedroom.

* * *

It was almost noon before the two of them finally made it to the office. Their breakfast had a follow up in the bedroom, and after that also in the shower. Needless to say, they were a bit late for work. In the car they had discussed what they had to do about the 'outing' of their marriage. They had decided that they would inform Gibbs' team and Ducky and Abby personally, the others would get a memo. It wasn't like Ducky, Abby and McGee already knew but it was the formality of the thing. 

After twenty minutes all of them had gathered in the Director's office. Jen sat behind her desk and Gibbs stood behind her.

"I know that some of you already know this but we decided it would be best to tell the five of you in person." Jen hesitated, she didn't know how to approach the subject. Gibbs put his hand on her shoulder and continued.

"The Director and I are married, in two months it's going to be our 7th anniversary."They looked at the five people in front of them. Only one of them looked surprised. Of course, Abby, Ducky and McGee had already known, and Ziva had suspected that there was something going on between her friend and boss. Only Tony had been out of the loop. Jenny was surprised that he was already at work. But the hospital probably reminded him too much of Jeanne. He had told her earlier that his doctor had released him already on the condition that he would go to Ducky if anything bothered him. Abby's question snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Why did you guys decide to out yourselves?"

"Well Abbs, it was to avoid rumors since someone kissed me in front of her employees."He looked pointedly at Jen. She smirked back at him. In her eyes a look that clearly said 'you know you liked it'.

"Mother will be very pleased, she always said that you two should've been honest. But if that's all, I have some bodies waiting for me downstairs."

"Go ahead Ducky, and the rest of you too, get back to work." Jen replied in her best Director voice. Abby quickly walked behind the desk and hugged Gibbs.

"Are the three of us still on for dinner tonight?"

"Yes, be at my place around seven." The Goth girl smiled and walked out the door.

"That went pretty well, don't you think?"

"Just wait, the questions will come soon. Especially from DiNozzo."

"Tony's not that bad."

"Just wait." He kissed the top of her head and walked out the office. Just before he exited he asked "Coffee at three?"

"Sure." Then he closed the door behind him and went down to join his team in the quadroom.

* * *

Before she knew it, it was almost three o'clock and she heard a knock on her door. 

"Come in"

"You ready Jen." She put down her glasses and laid them on top of her work.

"Yes, I just have to finish this one." Her hand reached for a paper on her desk, but a hand grabbed her wrist.

"No more working, let's go get some coffee." She tried to put het best 'Director face' on.

"Do I have to remind you who is in charge here?"

"No Madam Director but as your concerned employee I advise you to take a break."

She smirked at him "Well thank you for your concern Special Agent Gibbs. I'll take it into consideration." Bantering with him was something she'd never grow tired of. Their verbal sparring was something that was just theirs. Neither of them could imagine doing it with anyone else.

She put her last file away in the file cabinet and walked around her desk. He held the door open for her and with an amused look on her face she exited her office.

"Well that was very gentlemanly of you."

"Gentlemanly?"

"You know what I mean. Bye Cynthia, I'll be back in half an hour." She waved at her assistant who nodded and waved back.

* * *

The sunlight shone into the room, making the temperature inside rise. But the woman who sat at the desk inside the room didn't notice. She was far too busy with work. It looked like she was planning something. Once in a while she gazed at the pictures on her desk. But only for a short moment, then she would resume her work. 

There were only two pictures on her desk. One of her with two other persons who looked a lot like her. Probably her parents. The other one was one of her in the arms of a man. Maybe a boyfriend?

Fifteen minutes had already passed and still she was intensely at work. Nothing could keep her from her job. The phone had just rang five minutes ago but she had ignored it. If they really wanted to reach her, they would leave a message. This was more important for now.

She leaned back in her chair and looked at papers on her desk. Everything was finished. The whole plan was ready to be set in motion.

It was time to start plan B.

NCIS wouldn't know what hit them.

"Don't worry Dad, I'll get them." She spoke to the pictures on her desk.

"I'll make sure they will pay for what they have done to you."

* * *

**_Push the pretty button with Go on it. Come on, you know you can do it!_**


	10. Old Friends?

**_Merry Christmas! I hope everyone got the gifts they wanted ;) And here is my gift to you!_**

**_I hope you'll like it :) And remember reviews are a great gift_ **

**

* * *

Chapter 10: Old Friends?**

Two weeks had past since their rescue mission, and two weeks since everyone found out that the Director and Gibbs are married. Luckily there hadn't been many problems with Jen's bosses. They had already known when they approached her for the job. Some of them had even worked with the two of them back in the day.

Gibbs and Tony were completely healed from their wounds and the last week they had been working on a case with the rest of the team. At first, it had looked lik an easy case with only one victim and only one suspect with a hazy alibi. But their suspect had been killed too and was now lying down in Autopsy with Ducky. This time, no leads, no suspects, nothing.

Gibbs had everyone working around the clock to find new leads, and the fact that Abby was away to visit her family didn't improve his mood. She had only been gone for two days but everyone missed her, Gibbs was more easily ticked off than usual and McGee looked like someone had kicked his puppy. Ziva and Tony, especially Tony were glad that Abby was going to return tomorrow. Tony's head had gotten more headslaps in the past two days than he had in the weeks before.

"Boss I think I found a connection."Gibbs looked up and saw McGee standing next to the screen.

"Five days ago, Miles placed a call to this man, James Ryan. And called him a few times after that."

"Your point McGee?"

"The same number popped up from his call log two weeeks before that, about an hour after Deputy Officer Clark was killed."

"Good work McGee, try to find something more. David, DiNozzo, pick him up."

* * *

About an hour later Ziva and Tony finally returned, with their suspect. All of them looked very irritated after they got off the elevator. 

"Ziva, don't let him get to you, remember what happened last time."

"Shut up Tony, how many times do I have to repeat it. That was not my fault."

"Whatever Zee-vah." He pushed their suspect further.

Gibbs saw the three of them coming and approached them.

"DiNozzo, get him in the interrogationroom and start questioning him. I'll be there shortly."

Tony, Ziva and James Ryan continued their path, the last one a little reluctantly. They crossed paths with Jenny, who was on her way to talk to Gibbs.

James' face lit up. "Jennifer!" She winced a little at the sound of her full name, she had never liked it. Even Ducky called her Jenny.

"Please Jen, can you tell them that whatever it is, I didn't do it."

He looked at her with a pleading face, "Come on Jennifer, you know me."

A little reluctant, she smiled. "I'll see what I can do James."

She watched the three as they walked off. Suddenly she felt a hand on the small of her back. For a moment, she tensed up but soon she smelled Jethro's familiar scent and relaxed against his side.

"You know that guy?"

"We kind of dated a long time ago." She looked up at him. "What did he do?"

"He probably murdered one man and maybe another one."

"And what does your gut tell you?"

"He's guilty."She smirked.

"Well then, put the bastard away if you're that sure."

"As you wish Madam Director." He winked at her and followed his two team members to the interrogation rooms. Jenny watched him as he walked off. Checking out his ass in the process.

_**(A/N: Kind of OOC but I couldn't help myself here)**_

Then she went up to her office, to ask Cynthia for a copy of Gibbs' casefile. She probably should keep the promise she just made to James.

* * *

"Come on Ryan, you are the only one who knew that both the victims, don't tell me it was a coincidence you called Miles Jones just after John Clark was killed." 

As he said the names, Tony slammed their pictures on the table. Pictures of the two men, taken just after they were found.

"Oh my God." James turned his head away in disgust.

"Come on, don't tell me you haven't seen them like that before."

The door opened and Gibbs entered the room.

"Do you know anything yet?"

"He won't talk Boss."

"I think I want to call my lawyer. And I want to talk to Jennifer." Gibbs leaned over the table, in an intimidating pose.

"And why do you thing we'll let her talk to you?"

"Well from what I've heard, she's your boss, and my friend." James let out a nervous laugh. "I'm so glad we stayed friends after we broke up two years ago."

An icy look appeared on Gibbs'face. He stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut without saying a word. Tony winced at the sound. His boss definately wasn't happy to hear that. He looked down at their suspect who looked surprised.

"What's his problem?"

"Nothing you should be concerned about."

* * *

Jenny looked up in surprise when the door to her office slammed open. 

"Two years ago?!" Gibbs stormed inside, his face all red. She hadn't seen him this angry in a _really_ long time.

"Would you like to tell me what this is about, Special Agent Gibbs?"

"James Ryan was so nice to tell me that you two were in a relationship two years ago."

This really wasn't the way she'd wanted him to find out about that. But she'd never expected James to tell him about their relationship. And she also never expected Jethro to be this angry. They weren't even on speaking terms two years ago.

"Right, like you really cared back then, you'd sent me the divorce papers already!"

"Newsflash, until you sign and file those papers, having a relationship with another man is adultery."

This wasn't like their usual banter. The sarcasm always came out while they were having a fight. Just like right now, and it was going to be a big one.

"You made it very clear you never wanted to see me again and now it's my fault? Don't you forget who screwed us up first Jethro."

"Whatever you say, Madam Director. "He replied with a sneer and stormed out of her office, still fuming with anger.

Jenny picked her mug up and threw it across the room against the door, the coffee dripped down, forming a big stain in the carpet underneath.

She balled her hands into fists. The color drained from them. He had no right to talk to her like that. Fine she dated a man while they were seprated. Like he didn't do the same, see another woman. Or did he?

It didn't really matter, she looked at the file she had been reading while he entered. It was James' file. She picked it up, determined to prove his innocence. Not because he didn't do it, because she wouldn't be surprised if he did do it, but just to prove Gibbs' famous gut wrong.

* * *

The following days the atmosphere at NCIS was cold, chilly at best. Everyone had heard about the famous fight between the Director and Special Agent Gibbs, but no one knew what it really was about. Well no one, except Gibbs' team and Abby. Tony really couldn't keep it to himself. And after Abby returned they had told her too. Maybe she could use her status as Gibbs' favorite to find out what really happened behind those doors. 

But not even Abby had found out what happened in her office. Gibbs had shushed her protests with a Caff-Pow. And now Abby was planning something to get Jenny and Gibbs in a room somewhere, maybe not the most perfect idea, but it would give them a chance to talk about things.

The Director joined Gibbs' team in the squad room every time they discussed the case. But between her and Gibbs, not much could be discussed, their anger took over every time. And every meeting ended in a shouting match. The others took as little notice of them as possible. Maybe the fighting would stop after the case was finished. It was worth a try.

The phone rang and Gibbs picked it up.

"Gibbs."

"Are you sure?"

"All right, we'll be there in ten."

He put the phone down and looked at his team and Jenny.

"James Ryan's sister is kidnapped. Her husband was told to call NCIS. To make sure Ryan would stop talking. Gear up people, we're going over there."

"Well I'm coming with you."

"Are you this involved with the other cases too, Director."

"You know as well as I do, I can choose to participate in every operation I want Special Agent Gibbs."

Without saying another word he led them to the elevator, and they left for the crime scene.

They drove down in two cars, the women in one, the men in the other. It was the only solution between Zica's driving and having Gibbs and the Director in the same car.

At the scene everything went smoothly, Gibbs and Jenny stayed professional the whole time. Unfortunately the husband didn't have much information. The only thing he had was a note, left in his house by his wife's kidnappers. It said to call NCIS and that they would be in touch soon.

In Gibbs' head many theories were spinning around. But none of them seemed very likely. There was only one possibility that was more probable than the others. The kidnappers wanted to exchange Ryan for his sister for some unknown reason. But that would also mean that Jenny was right, and that Ryan was innocent. He glance d over at her, she tried to hide her smile and to keep a straight face. From the looks of it, she had came to the same conclusion.

"McGee, get the note to Abby. Tony, you and Ziva interrogate Ryan again. Maybe he knows something about this."

From the corner of his eye he could see that Jenny was about to protest.

"Or maybe he knows someone who could be responsible for this."

Suddenly the sound of an explosion shocked all of them, the sound came from the street and they all ran outside to see what the cause was. The only thing they saw was a small fire and some burned metal on the spot where one of their cars had been. It was the NCIS van that Ziva had driven to the crime scene. Quickly Tony grabbed the garden hose and put the small fire out.

Gibbs sighed. "The three of you, take my car." He tossed the keys to Tony. "I'll stay here and ask around in the neigborhood. And Ziva, you lead the interrogation, no gloves."

Ziva nodded in understanding. Jenny interrupted. "Special Agent Gibbs, I'll assist you and I'll call my driver, he can pick us up after we're done."

Gibbs looked at her, a little annoyed, knowing her, she was going to rub this in his face for a while.

* * *

The phone rang. She hurried into the study and picked it up. 

"And?" She listened intentely to the person on the other side of the line.

" Good work, did any of them get hurt?"

"No? What a shame. Well you can continue with phase 2 now."

Smiling she disconnected the call and sat down in the big leather chair behind the desk. She leaned back a bit, satisfied.

"It won't be long now."


	11. Making Things Right

**_You can all thank Aserene for this update. I'm not sure how long this story is going to be. It could end soon, it all depends how many reviews I still get ;-)_**

**_I hope you like it!

* * *

_**

**Chapter 11: Making Things Right**

Together, Jenny and Jethro had interviewed the neighbors. But as expected, no one had heard or seen a thing. Or they thoughtthey'd seen something and that turned out to be nothing after all. They had no real leads, not until Abby had some results.

Even after all this time, working together felt just as natural as it had been the first time. But they were still not talking to each other. The only conversation between them was work related.

The kidnapper had contacted Allan, James' brother-in-law again. To give him, and in a way NCIS a deadline to release Ryan. Gibbs' team had monitored the call but by the time they got to the location, there was no one to be found. The team had returned to NCIS headquarters, Gibbs immediately went to Abby's lab. Carrying a Caff-Pow! and a coffee with him.

He winced a little when he heard her speakers blasting some kind of metal song. He raised his voice to get her attention.

"Abby! What did you find?" She turned the music down and took the Caff-Pow from his hand.

"Gibbs, I don't know how you do it? I just got a hit from the partial fingerprint I found on the pen. Someone had wiped it clean but forgot to wipe the clicking thingey. Pretty stupid huh?"

He just gave her a look.

"Right, the print belongs to Ryan's sister Ann. My theory is, they forced her to write the note. Or she made it up herself. I think it's probably the last one, if she wrote this under force her handwriting probably wouldn't have been this steady."

Ziva entered the lab, "Gibbs, Ryan just confessed. His sister was just a diversion."

While she said it, there was a secret smile on her face. She liked 'interrogating this way. It had been a while since she'd been able to do that. And it was a big plus that James Ryan had been a bastard while dating Jenny. No one should hurt her friend like that.

"Did he tell you where his sister went?"

"Yes, she's in a motel somewhere in the city." From the look Gibbs gave her, she suspected he was a bit worried about the way she left Ryan. "And don't worry, I didn't touch him."

"Pick her up, we'll be able to charge her with something."

"Yes, Gibbs." Ziva walked out again. He kissed Abby's cheek. "Good work Abbs."

"Gibbs, I got something else. The Director found a remaining of the bomb that was used to blow the car up. It was stolen from a naval base about a month ago."

"Did you tell her about this already?"

Abby immediately knew who he was talking about, and the reason why he asked that question. "I called her, she'll be here any minute.

"Make that any second." Jenny walked in and stood between Abby and Gibbs, nodded her head to him in greeting before she turned to Abby.

"Madam Director."

"What did you find Abby?"

"Like I told the Bossman, Ryan's sister wrote the note herself."

"Not that part Abby, Ziva already informed me about that one."

She threw Jethro a glare that clearly told him to stay silent. He decided to follow it's demand but he did smirk at her, rubbing in the fact that he'd been right all along.

"What did you find out about that thing I found near the car?"

"It belonged to a bomb, stolen from a naval base a month ago. Rumour is, it was stolen by.."

Jen finished her sentance "La Grenouille." Abby nodded. Not saying another word, the couple walked out of her lab, neither saying a word and as far from each other as possible. Watching them walking away Abby grabbed Bert and hugged him close. He farted. And with a determined look on her face she told him "I've got to fix this, I don't like it when Gibbs is sad."

"Do you have any ideas?"

* * *

"It looks like someone took control over La Grenouille's buisiness. Any ideas who it could be?" 

Jenny looked at Gibbs and Tony, the three of them were in her office, she had decided it would be better if only a few people knew about this recent discovery.

McGee and Ziva were off finishing the case aganst James Ryan and the three of them would take care of this, and keep rule number four very close in mind.

Gibbs was the first to speak

"I'd say his daughter."

"Jeanne? Boss, you've got to be kidding, there's no way she'd be able to do something like this, right Director?" Tony looked at Jenny, a mixture of fear and worry in his eyes. "What abuot his right hand, Karl Lagermann, wouldn't he be the obvious choice?"

Jenny switched her gaze between the two of them. Jethro had a point, but so did Tony. She was about to say that it was both worth looking in to but then she thought of something.

"Tony, was Jeanne with you when her father blew your car up?"

Hesitatingly he answered. "Yes, she was."

"It could be a connection, a way for us to recognize who did it. Try to find something about Jeanne first. If it doesn't work out, start on Lagermann."

Tony walked out of her office. Not really happy with the assignment. Gibbs was about to follow him but her question stopped him.

"Jethro, could you wait for a second?"

She got up from behind her desk, gathering all her courage for the confrontation that was about to follow.

"You were right. Are you happy now?" Gibbs just looked at her,

" Actually, I am." She let out a short sarcastic laugh.

"To be honest, I'm not even surprised. There was always something about him that I wasn't sure about. The next part slipped out before she even noticed.

"The only reason I went out with him in the first place was to get over you."

Gibbs looked at her in surprise. Did she really mean that?

"Why?"

"Do I have to tell you? Since you were clearly over me I tried to get over you too. Ava, an old friend from college set me up with James. What a success that was." The sarcasm dripped from her voice as she said that last part.

" After going on a few dates with him I knew I couldn't do it anymore. Somewhere about that time they approached me for this job and, well you know the rest."

" What do you mean, since I was clearly over you? I didn't go on a single date the time we were apart. Even though Tobias tried to set me up with someone."

"And what about the night I saw you in Eden with a new red head?" During that last question, Jen's voice had gotten louder and louder.

" Eden? The restaurant? The only time I've been there was with Shannon's brother and his wife. We always go out to dinner to celebrate Shannon's birthday."

"How the hell was I supposed to know that? You never even told me about Shannon!"

It looked like his last statement only added fuel to the fire. He couldn't take it anymore. She was accusing and blaming him for all kinds of things but it wasn't like she was completely innocent herself, and she knew it.

"I would have told you Jen!"

" Right, and when would that be? After ten years of marriage? Maybe on our tenth anniversary. You know what.."

"Of course not! I would've told you sooner. And probably before you would've told me about your father."

She rolled her eyes, and replied in a sarcastic tone "What was I supposed to tell you. Hi honey, my dad killed himself but I think someone else did it and I'm trying to catch that bastard."

"Yes, why didn't you?"

"Because you would've tried to stop me!"

"Damn straight I would've. What the hell were you thinking anyways. Going after him on your own."

"I was following your stupid rule, number four remember."

"Did you forget the other one? Rule 17, Always have back up. You could've gotten hurt Jen!"

"So? It's not like that hasn't happened before, and it's not like you'd care anyway.

He couldn't believe what she just said "Of course I care, I love you dammit!"

They were face to face by now, both breathing heavily from all the shouting. There was something storming in their eyes. A floodgate of emotions had been opened, there was no holding back now.

Right now, right there. This was the time to finally sort things out. Everything that had been bothering them was out in the open. Now was the time to resolve all their issues and work on their marriage.

She lowered her eyes and fidgeted with her hands. "I.., I.., I can't." And stepped back. To put the distance back between them.

"Jen," he reached out to her, but she turned her back to him.

"Could you please leave?" When she didn't hear him leave she turned around. He could see that she was holding her tears back.

"Please, Jethro." Her voice was soft, and sounded so fragile. He wanted to hold her in his arms, stop her from hurting and to tell her that everything would be okay but he couldn't. He was the reason she was hurting this bad. And he had to gain her trust back first. To find a way to reassure her that he would never keep anything from her ever again. Slowly he walked out the door.

* * *

She was packing her bags, getting ready to move to her new home. Or hideout, whatever you want to call it. The time had come. NCIS was closing in on her. It was time to prepare herself for the last showdown. This was it, the moment she had been working for. After this she would disappear, and live her life hidden in the French Alps. 

She walked over to her fathers collection and chose his favourite wine. She poured herself a glass and toasted to the sky.

"To our family. May we finally get our revenge." And with a devilish smile on her face she drowned the glass entirely.


	12. Leads

_Yes, that´s right, you´re not imagining things. Finally after I can´t even remember how long, a new chapter of OFAS._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 12: Leads 

Abby was working in her lab, completely focused. For once, there was no music filling her surroundings. It was time for action. She had a plan to make. On her computer screens she had all kinds of different scenario's worked out. She was typing furiously and didn't hear it when someone entered the lab.

"Hey Abby. What are you doing?"

She jumped up in surprise and turned around.

"Tony!" She smacked his arm.

"Ow, what was that for?"

That's for sneaking up on me like that."

"I didn't sneak up on you Abbs, I just walked in, quietly."

Abby searched his face to see if he spoke the truth. He tried his best to pull an innocent face.

"What are you working on anyways? We don't have a case, do we?"

"It's more of an private project." Tony grinned, that sounded interesting.

" Really," he leaned over her shoulder to see what was on the screen. He studied it for a moment, and then turned his head to look at the person next to him. "Is this what I think it is?"

"No"

"Abby.."

"Maybe..okay, probably."

"The Boss is going to kill you, you know that, right?"

"No he won't. I'm his favourite" She smiled widely and Tony knew she was probably right. Gibbs would never say anything bad about Abby. Maybe the plan could work. Maybe it would get the Director and Gibbs to talk to each other again, at least in a normal way.

"Tony? Tony? Hellooo you still with me?" Abby waved her hand in front of his face. He snapped out of it.

"Did you say something?"

"Yes, I asked if you wanted to help me out. I can't do it on my own."

He hesitated for a moment. It would probably earn him some headslaps and he was supposed to investigate Jeanne. But on the other hand.

"What do you need me to do for your Operation Parent Trap?"

Abby hugged him excitedly and then turned back to her computer.

"I have three different plans, I'm not sure which one is best. Maybe we can use one of the others if the first one fails."

"If we're still alive by then."

Abby ignored him and continued explaining. "The only way we can get the two of them alone together long enough is by locking them up. The three plans are all different locations inside NCIS. And they have a separate lock on the outside so they won't be able to make their way out from the inside."

Together they worked out the details of their plan, trying their best to work every single kink out of it. But not before Tony called Ziva to let her take over the search for Jeanne. He knew she was less likely to ask questions about the reason why he needed information about her.

* * *

Fourty-five minutes later, they had everything worked out. They only needed a good reason for Gibbs and Jen to be in the same room together. They had been trying to think of one for the last fifteen minutes but they were still drawing blanks. Tony's phone rang and he picked it up immediately. 

"Dinozzo."

"And? Did you find something?"

"Another person who owed you a favor."

"Thanks Ziva. Can you bring it up to Abby's lab?"

He disconnected the call and grinned widely at Abby while pointing at himself.

"Who's the genius?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

He dropped his hands, and the smile too.

"Fair enough. But I have a plan to get the two of them together. Ziva just found some intel they needed and I'm going to call them now and say that they have to meet me here in ten minutes."

"And what about Ziva?"

"She's going to be here in five so we have about five minutes to get rid of her and go away ourselves."

"Perfect!"

The calls to Gibbs and Jenny were quickly made, they were a little confused about the fact he wanted to meet them in Abby's lab but with a lot of vague explaining Tony managed to work his way around it. By the time he hung up with Jenny, who seemed even more paranoid about his explinations than Gibbs, Ziva had already delivered the information. Abby finished up the last preperations and the two of them quickly hid outside the lab.

* * *

Jenny and Gibbs met each other on the elevator, both heading for Abby's lab for their meeting with Tony. Silence filled the small area until Jen broke it by asking a question. 

"Why did Tony want to meet us in Abby's lab?"

"He said it was because there was something only Abby's computer was able to uncode and show."

"Why couldn't he just print the results? Or tell us where Jeanne went?"

"I have no idea. Why don't you ask him that Jen."

She could sense he was starting to get a bit annoyed by her questions, so she decided against asking another one. The two walked from the elevator to the lab. But inside, there was no one to be seen. No Abby, and no Dinozzo.

They heard the door close but when they turned around there was no one else to be seen. Jen checked her watch, it was exactly time for their meeting. Tony should've been there by now. He used to be pretty strict in those things.

Then the light on one of the computerscreens went on and Abby's voice filled the room.

"Hello my silver haired fox, and you too Director. Remember when I said the kids don't like it when Mom and Dad fight? Well, we still don't like it. I know you guys can get through this, what ever it is you are fighting about. That's why you are locked inside my lab for the next two hours. Then I'll come to see if you guys made any progress. There is no way you can get out of here without my code. Good luck!"

The two looked at each other, with a tiny smile on their face, the big fight might have been fought but there were still some things unresolved. Gibbs had just opened his mouth when Tony's voice came out of the speakers.

"I did find something about Jeanne's location, I'm going to track her together with Ziva. Don't worry I didn't tell her that much. I left the intel on your desk Jenny. See you in two hours!"

Gibbs closed his mouth again. Tony had just answered his unspoken question. Then Tony's voice sounded again, apparently he hadn't been finished just yet.

"Don't go making us any Gibblets right now."

Jenny turned her head to Gibbs, with a questioning look in her eyes.

"Gibblets?"

"Long story."

"Well, you have two hours so you could start telling it."

"Jen, you know that isn't why we're here."

"I thought we already discussed everything in my office."

"Jenny."

He looked at her, intensely, there was something in his eyes, something she didn't know how to identify. Even after all these years with him, his eyes could still surprise her with a new emotion. She couldn't define it exactly. It was a mixture of pleading, patience and anxiousness. Deep inside she knew she owed him some kind of explanation for her actions. She knew he wasn't the only one to blame.

In that brief moment she gathered every inch of courage she could find in her body. And if she was really honest, it wasn't much. Their last conversation had robbed her from most of it. She was fumbling with her hands and her bracelet again. This time she caught herself doing it, instead she gripped her hands close together and started her tale.

"Fine. It's going to be a while so you might want to sit down."

"I'm okay."

"After Dad 'died', I was on my own. The only relative I had left was an aunt. She was my father's sister, they had never been close but since I was still a minor, someone had to take care of me. Her husband wasn't really fond of the idea but she persuaded him to take me in. Even though she hardly knew me she felt like she had to take care of me. I lived there for a few years and when I was seventeen, she became sick. At first she was coughing all day, after a while she started to cough up blood and we took her to the hospital. They never found out what she had."

Tears started to well up in her eyes for the woman she'd come to love, almost as a second mother.

"Her husband, 'Uncle Joe'," she spat out the name, just mentioning it angered her. And that was downplaying it. "He kicked me out, he told me he always knew I was bad luck. Everyone around me died, and it was all my fault. I tried not to believe him, but he'd been right, everyone I loved had left or died. And somewhere the thought kept bothering me. I never told anyone about it. After he threw me out, I lived with my best friend until I left for college. And even though I never saw him again, his words kept haunting me.

She looked up at him. She knew it was not much of a reason, but her uncle had really scared her bac kthen. Every time she closed her eyes it didn't take much for that scene to reappear.

_

* * *

17 year old Jenny Shepard was lying on her bed, head buried in her pillow. If you listened closely you could hear the sounds of sniffles and sobs coming from that direction. _

_Her head shot up when someone burst through the door. It was her uncle. His face was as red as a tomato, she could tell he'd been drinking again. Not that it was much of a surprise, it was all he did after Aunt Amy died._

_He pulled her closet open and threw her clothes on the bed and on top of her. _

"_Grab your things." _

_Curiously and a little frightened she looked at him. _

"_Why?"_

"_You're not staying here anymore. The only thing you've brought to this house is death."_

" _But, what did I do? Where would I go?" _

"_Oh please, like you don't know. First your own mother, then your father and now my wife? Everyone that takes care of you dies. And I'm not going to be next."_

" _That was not my fault! Honest!" _

_Roughly he grabbed her arm. " No chance in hell that I'm going to believe that crap. Now get the hell out of my house." _

_He pushed her towards the door. She slammed her head against the door and looked at him over her shoulder., her eyes red and puffy from crying. Joe started to walk toward her, his hands folded in fists besides his body and an angry scowl on his face. Quickly she grabbed a few clothes off the floor and ran out of the house. She didn't stop until she got to her friend Sara's house. And she never went back to the house ever again._

* * *

"Jen?" 

" Hm?" She didn't know how long he'd been calling her, and to be honest, she didn't really care.

" What are you afraid of?"

" Don't you understand? He was right. It is all my fault."

Protectively she wrapped her arms around herself and started to stroll around the lab. Without looking at him she knew his eyes had never left her.

He wasn't used to this side of her. He had seen her scared before but this time it was different. She looked so much like a hurt little girl in stead of the scared grown woman she was. Maybe she still both of them. And was this one of the rare times the little girl got control. Either way, he couldn't stand to see her like this.

" You listen to me Jen, it's not your fault." His voice was a bit dark, heavy. In it was also a very convincing undertone. Unfortunately it wasn't convincing enough. Years of self blame just couldn't be erased in a few seconds. Jenny scoffed.

" Of course it is. Everyone I love will probably die or leave soon. I mean, look at the evidence. My parents did, my aunt did, and you've been close to dying a few times too. Can't you see. I just did it to protect you!"

Somehow her voice had gotten louder as she spoke. He was floored by the intensity of it. Luckily he could shake it off before she turned away from him again.

"Protect me from what?"

"Dying. I'd rather be separated from you and know that you're still alive than be close to you knowing you'll die soon and staying behind heartbroken. Can't you see, I can't lose you."

"I promise you Jen, I'm not going anywhere."

She held up her hand to stop him from continuing

"Stop Jethro. Just stop. You know you can't promise that, you're an Agent, it's in your blood. You'll always get in trouble."

Her hand dropped again as she let out a deep sigh.

" I just down know if I can live through that pain again."

With a few big strides, he closed the distance between them. He put his hands on both her arms, forcing her to look at him.

"Listen to me Jen. I. Am. Not. Going. Anywhere. And if you want me to, I'll try to stay out of dangerous situations." He paused for a second. "Just don't make me do fulltime deskwork."

Even with all her emotions running wild, and the sadness that came with it she couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her face. He returned her smile and pulled her closer. With another sigh she let her head rest on his chest. The sound of his heartbeat still had it's calming effect on her. They continued to stand there for a short while. Buried in each others embrace. Both glad they finally, finally talked things through.

"Jethro?" as she said it, she pulled back a little. He wasn't sure if he should be worried. Sometimes it was even difficult for him to read her emotions. And this was one of those times. Was she going to push him away again?

"I think we should make an agreement. No more secrets."

In his mind, he let out a sigh of relief. Part of him had expected her to push him away again. Even now.

"Sure Jen. No more secrets, from either of us."

"Deal." She leaned back again, into his embrace. For now, this was perfect. To finally be in his arms again. It seemed like it had been forever.

" I think Abby deserves a couple of Caff-Pows." She could feel him chuckle against her hair as he responded.

"I'll get right on that.

* * *

Ziva and Tony drove towards the beach, somewhere close to Annapolis. The drive had given them enough time to discuss their approach of the house. The property they were visiting was registered in Nichole Benoit's name, Jeanne's mother. On the outside of the building they couldn't find anything suspicious. The place seemed to be abandoned for quite some time. There were no guards, no security cameras and no other ways of security in plain sight. Deciding it would be better to take a closer look, they got out of the car. Together, they walked along the shore, pretending to be a lovey dovey couple who were taking a romantic walk. 

"If you put your hand one inch lower I just might demonstrate how to kill someone with a.." Ziva looked around, trying to find something she could use to proceed her plan with. Suddenly she saw a bunch of seaweed and picked it up.

"I think this could do."

Tony grinned at her, "You wouldn't." She looked at him, with a mysterious but wicked smile on her face, willing to take on the challenge.

" Wouldn't I?"

He quickly changed the subject, Not really sure if he was still comfortable in her presence.

"Look there's someone coming out of the house. Looks like a guard or something."

They watched the man as he walked through the dunes, Here and there he picked up some plants. Tony wondered what he was going to do with them. He voiced his thoughts.

"If I'm right, all of those plants can be used as a herbal medication. There might be someone ill."

Suddenly she turned her head and squinted her eyes. Tony threw her a strange look. But then about ten masked men appeared behind them. Together they fought of the first six but as he fought with number seven, everything turned black.

* * *

**_.. I´m not that happy with Jen´s backstory but unfortunately it was the best I could come up with._**

**_I´d love to hear your thoughts, just press the pretty Go button_**


	13. Showdown

**_No your eyes aren't deceiving you, this really is a new chapter of OFAS. Again, I have to apologize for the long wait but it's almost the end of the schoolyear so in between studying for exams I might find some time to write again._**

**_this one is for Aly, because she wanted me to keep writing this fic :)_**

* * *

**Chapter** **13**: **Showdown**

"Tony, Tony!"

He felt someone shake his arm, the splitting headache stopped him from opening his eyes to find out who it was.

"What?"

"Good, you're awake. Come on, you have to sit up straight. That blow in the head could've caused a concussion." Finally he recognised who it was and he answered.

"I'm fine Ziva, just a really bad migraine."

Despite the pain he opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings. They were in an empty room. Probably an old bedroom turned into a cell. The windows were covered from the outside and there was only one lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. Then he saw somethign in the corner of the room. It was kind of big, about the size of a body.

"Ziva, can you see what that is?"

"Where?"

"Right there." He pointed in the right direction and she approached the foreign subject carefully. When she got closer she could finally see what it was.

"It's a woman."

"Really?" Tony grinned and was next to her within seconds. Ziva rolled her eyes. Sometimes she wondered if he would ever grow up.

"That hair, that neckline, those hands."The grin on his face turned into a look of astonishment. "Ziva, that is Jeanne."

His voice rose with every word and after he said her name Jeanne started to stir awake. Confused she looked at the two people in front of her.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? How do you know my name?" she tried to make the distance between the two of them a little bigger by backing up into the corner just a little bit more.

"Jeanne, it's Tony remember? And this is my partner, Ziva David." He pointed at Ziva as he spoke her name, but his eyes were still on Jeanne. She looked scared, confused, like she had no idea who he was.

"How do you know my name?"

"Well, maybe because we've been going out for four.." before he could finish Ziva clasped her hand over his mouth and whispered in his ear.

"Maybe she lost ehr memory, you can't shock her into things she doesn't remember. Let me."

After she made sure he would stay quiet she sat down next to Jeanne.

"How long have you been here?"

"I'm not sure, days and nights are very alike in here. I think I've been here for five months or something. But it could be less."

Tony and Ziva shared a look. Both not sure what to think of it. Maybe she had a very bad sens for time. Their thoughts were interrupted when Jeanne spoke up again.

"Is there any chance one of you can get us out of here? Or that there's someone to help us outside?"

"Our team will be her soon. We'll be out in no time." Tony answered in a soft, calming voice. One Ziva never heard from him before. It seemed like it was working. Jeanne was calming down. Finally Ziva asked the question that had been burning on her lips for the last ten minutes.

"If your name is Jeanne, who is the woman that we saw before? You two are like two drops of rain."

"I think you mean water Zee-vah."

"Ah you know what I mean."

"Wait you said that the other one looked almost exactly like me?" Jeanne sighed as the other two nodded in confirmation. That must've ben my twin sister Nathalie. I haven't seen her since I was nine."

Before she could continue the door was unlocked behind them and three armed men entered.

"The Boss want s to see the two of you."

One aimed his gun at Tony and Ziva and the other two pushed them outside, ready to take them to their interrogation.

* * *

From their place at the railing Ducky and Abby observed as their Director and her husband worked together on their case. Everything seemed to run in perfect synchrony.

No unnesessary words were spoken, the silent communication between the two said more than words ever could.

"Good work my dear Abigail. It's been a while since the two of them worked this well together. It reminds me of the time we were in France."

"Was that the time the Director stole a boat?" Ducky smiled at her, thinking about the memory.

"Yes it was."

They continued to watch as the two downstairs tried to get in touch with Ziva and Tony.

Jenny was getting worried. It had been more than an hour and they still hadn't heard from them. She paced between the desks in the squadroom, glancing at the phone every now and then.

"Don't worry, they can handle themselves."

She looked at Jethro, he was sitting at his desk and from the looks of it not the least bit worried about his team.  
"Isn't your gut telling you something is wrong?"

Gibbs wasn't sure what to say when he looked up at her. He'd seen the worried looke in her eyes but on the other side he was very confident that his team would be able to handle things on their own.

Or couldn't they?

There was only one thing he trusted more than his own gut and that were Jen's instincts. They never failed.

"Fine. We'll go." She gave him a grateful look as she quickly called her security detail for backup. She knew it wan't exactly in their job description but they were the only onse she trusted with this taks. That, and they never left her alone anymore, not after that last attack.

Quickly they notified McGee to meet them at the location as soon as possible. The note Tony had left for Jenny was their only hint.

* * *

After a few hallways and descending the stairs the five entered a room that probably used to be a living room. Ziva and Tony were pushed on two simple chairs that stood in the middle of the room. They didn't have to wait long until someone entered the room.

"Nathalie?"

The woman chuckled as she made her last steps toward them.

"So you believed that story? How sweet."

"Wait, what?" tony looked up at his ex disbelievingly.

"You still don't get it? There is no Nathalie. It was just an easy way to get the information out of you. Since you did so well the last time in interrogation and I have no doubt a Mossad trained officer knows how to keep her mouth shut."

Ziva smirked. "Simple but effective. I like that."

"Well thank you. Unfortunately the two of you won't be around for much longer to keep enjoying my work. In about fifteen minutes your Boss and your Director will be here with back up to get the two of you out of here. And after I have the two of them, I won't be needing you two anymore."

"Let me guess. You want to get revenge?"

"That's very good Mr DiNardo. Apparently all those movies did pay off."

"Apparently I'm not the only one who picks up things from them." He smirked at Jeanne who glared back.

"You're Director took my father away from me and now I'm going to take everything away that matters to her, starting with her precious husband." She switched her attention back to the three men that were guarding the room. "Chambers, Wilkes, take your positions they'll be here soon. And Townsend, you stay here and watch these two. Shoot them if they annoy you too much."

"Yes, ma'am."

Townsend settled himself on the couch a few feet from Ziva and Tony. They were sure they would be able to handle him. Just like they'd done before when they were undercover as the assassincouple. Before they could even start planning their escape they could hear their boss' familiar voice outside.

"NCIS, open the door!"

Townsend got up and headed for the door. He was about to open it but then he remembered his order. Unfortunately for him, Ziva had untied herself in those few seconds and kocked him out before he was able to raise his weapon. She quickly untied Tony too and the two of them made their way to the front door.

There they saw bullets flying around. Gibbs, the Director, and McGee were still firing back at Jeanne and two other men, Chambers and Wilkes and two men who Tony remembered as Director Shepard's security detail were out cold on the floor. Suddenly everything seemed to go in slow motion. Jeanne fired and Tony and Ziva saw Gibbs throw himself in front of Jenny. The bullet hit him in his stomach.

Seeing her husband on the floor, blood all over his clothes made Jenny something snap. As if there was a red daze in front of her eyes, she quickly fired at Jeanne. Knowing she wouldn't miss. The bullet hit her right in her heart. But she didn't have time to gloat as she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. She looked at it, blood covered her shoulder, just like it covered Jethro's stomach. Disbelievingly she looked at the man that shot her. Ziva had him in a stranglehold by now, looking at her apologetically. She switched her gaze again, this time she looked down. And again she saw Jehtro, even more blood covered him by now. His eyes were closed, she wasn't even sure if he was still breathing. She dropped down to her knees, one hand covering the wound, the other on his cheek, trying to make sure he was still conscious.

"Jethro, Jethro." Every time she said his name, it seemed to come out more desperate.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, she didn't even look up to see who it was.

"I called an ambulance, they'll be here soon." Jenny nodded, to indicate that she had heard McGee, but she still couldn't take her eyes off her husband.

"Please stay with me Jethro. Don't leave me."


	14. Sail Away

**_It's insane I know! two updates in a week gasps I just thought I'd post this one before I continue studying for exams. I'll probably won't be able to update (or write) during exams. but I promise I'll definitely update after :)_**

**_Enjoy! (and don't forget to review :)_**

* * *

**Chapter 14: Sail Away**

_The sun shone brightly on her face, as she sat back on the deck. He enjoyed seeing her like this, completely relaxed, with the salty wind of the sea blowing through her hair. Making it shine even more._

_Beautiful, simply beautiful._

_She shielded her eyes from the sun when she turned her head to look at him._

"_What are you staring at?" _

_He smirked. "You." She smiled back at him._

"_Shouldn't you be watching the sea? You never know if something might attack us." _

_He threw a quick glance at the water around them, there was nothing to be seen for miles. They were all alone, just the two of them, the boat and the water._

" _I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon Jen."_

"_Really, are you sure?" She stretched out the words as she approached him, circling her arms around him from behind. She stood on her tiptoes and he could feel her breath on his neck, and her lips as they covered his earlobe._

"_Mhm." the reassuring sound was all he could make while Jen softly bit his earlobe and her hands came dangerously close to his waistband._

_He quickly made sure the rudder was secure, and loosened her arms from around his waist._

"_Just let me lower the sails and throw out the anchor. I'll be there in a second."_

" _Don't be too long." she smiled at him seductively as she went inside. " I might need to help myself if you're not there soon enough."_

_Mentally he groaned at the thought. Just the idea of his wife, down there, waiting for him, ready for him was all he needed to know to finish his task twice as quickly._

_Alright, ten times as quickly._

_He threw one last look at the horizon. He couldn't believe he was finally at sea again, with his own boat, his Kelly. No where near as beautiful as the original but definitely something to remember her by._

"Jethro?" _He could hear her impatient voice calling him from the cabin underneath the deck, he smiled knowingly and made his way down._

"Jethro, wake up."

"Jehtro, if you can hear me, please squeeze my hand or something."

She had entwined her left hand with his as she sat on the small stool next to his bed. Her right arm was in a sling, doctors orders.

Two days had passed since that day at the beach house. Two days after their talk. Two days after she'd told him her biggest secret and two days after they'd been shot.

She'd been lucky, the bullet in her shoulder hadn't done much damage. She just had to keep the weight off of it by wearing a sling. Jethro on the other hand.

The bullet in his stomach had punctured his liver and it had cost the doctors a lot of time to fix it. They'd almost lost him on the table. Twice.

Jenny was exhausted. Everyone had offered to release her from her wake but she had refused every single one of them. Even Ducky. She couldn't bring herself to leave him alone here. At home there was only that big and lonely house, and she knew she would've been worrying even more if she was at home. And she'd never forgive herself if she wasn't there when he woke up. The others still visited every day, checking up on Gibbs and keeping her company, even if it was just for a little while.

Her eyes widened. Had she imagined it?

"Jethro can you squeeze my hand again?"

She waited for the soft squeeze, hoping she'd been right the first time.

And she'd been right, the soft squeeze came again. She couldn't help but let a few tears pass her eyes.

" Don't cry." His voice sounded a little rough, dry from two days without drinking, but still she was thrilled to hear it.

" I'm not crying." She shook her head as she leaned over his bed a little further, closing some of the distance between their faces.

"Yes.. you.. are." It took him a lot of energy to finish the sentence, and she could see it.

"Shh," she softly kissed him. "you need to rest. I'll tell the doctor you woke up."

"Don't." His raspy voice filled the room again and he strengthened his hold on her hand.

" I'm not going anywhere. Promise. I'll be right outside." Jenny smiled at him reassuringly and kissed him once again. He managed to return a smile an released her hand.

"Be right back."

* * *

Abby rushed towards the team's desks. The were either trying to keep themselves busy with an old case, or staring at the empty space behind Gibbs' desk.

"Guys, great news! The Director called. Gibbs is awake. And this time he still remembers everything!"

Three heads shot up to look at her and started to fire questions at her.

"Is everything okay?"

"Can we visit him?"

"Are you sure he still remembers everything?"

"Yes to all of your questions. But the doctors did say we can't stay very long, he still needs to rest a lot."

Ducky approached the four from behind.

" I have young mister Palmer finishing up the autopsy. Why don't we go over to Bethesda and visit our dear Jethro."

Abby smiled and linked arms with him as they made their way to the elevator. Tony, Ziva and Tim not far behind them.

* * *

"Gibbs! I'm so glad you're okay!" Abby rushed over to the bed and hugged Gibbs.

"Good to see you too Abbs," he winced slightly. Gentle hugs never were Abby's strong suit. She noticed his flinch immediately.

"I'm so sorry, did I hurt you Gibbs?"

"It's okay Abbs." He gave her a small smile through the pain and she returned it with a relieved look on her face.

Jenny watched as the rest of the team entered their Boss' room. All with a relieved look on their faces. Ducky entered just a few seconds behind them. She suspected he had a quick chat with Gibbs' doctor about his status.

"I think I'm going to grab a cup of coffee."

She stood up and began to walk away, but the small tug at her hand stopped her she looked at her husband, in his eyes she could see he was wondering if she was okay. She smiled reassuringly, and walked out the door. Giving Jethro a moment alone with his visitors and taking the chance to check up on her Agency.

Even in his hospital bed he was worried about her, just as worried as she was, about him. She tried not to think about the many times during their marriage they had been worried about each other. She supposed it was something that came with every marriage. But in their line of work, those feelings seemed to intensify every single time one of them got hurt.

After calling Cynthia, who ordered her not to call again before she was completely healed, and drinking some coffee down at the cafeteria of the hospital she returned again, knowing Jethro was probably very tired. He still needed every rest he could get.

She leaned against the doorpost, knowing he'd felt her presence when he locked eyes with her for a brief moment. Ducky followed his gaze and realised it was probably time to let his friend alone to rest a little.

The rest of the team took the hint when Ducky rose from his heat and said Gibbs goodbye. The five of them left soon after.

She walked over to the bed again and saw that he tried to stifle back a yawn.

" You should try to get some sleep."

"So should you."

"I'll be fine, I caught a few hours of sleep last night."

"Jen." he gave her that look again, while he said her name. the look that told her he knew she was lying.

"Close your eyes Jehtro, I'll take a nap in this chair."

She kissed his lips briefly.

"Hmm, you had coffee."

"Yes, you know you can't have any."

He gave her a look, a very un-Jethro like pout. She laughed at the sight.

"I suppose it can't hurt this way. And she kissed him again, making sure the taste of coffee and her remained in his mouth, teasing his taste buds.

With a last lingering kiss on his cheek she retreated and sat down on the chair in the corner. Giving him one last stern look before she closed her eyes.

A little reluctant he closed his eyes, even after he saw her sit down and close her eyes herself.

Ten minutes later he still hadn't been able to fall asleep. Despite the painkillers his stomach still bothered him. Lik there was someone pushing on the wound every few seconds. He glanced over at the chair, it seemed like he was the only one unable to sleep. Jenny had tucked her legs up and folded them underneath her, she'd fallen asleep in that very position and with her arm tucked under her head.

She looked different when she slept. And it wasn't just because she was finally able to relax. When Jenny slept, it was the only time he could be one hundred percent certain about the fact she wasn't wearing a mask. The mask she usually wore during the day, the mask which was very difficult to break. Even for him.

He remembered his dream earlier that day, she had the exact same look on her face in that one. And as he laid there in his hospital bed he promised himself, and her, to bring that look on her face once again. All alone at the water, sailing away from all their troubles, even if it was just for a few hours or days.


	15. Recovering

_**So, 25 people have this story on story alert and only three review? **_

_**If you look very closely there was a hint in there somewhere :p did you find it? Let me know ;)**_

**_Aly and V I hope you're happy this one is for the two of you, for always pushing me to keep writing this fic. Love you!_

* * *

**

Recovering

It had only taken a week for Gibbs to get discharged from the hospital. His doctor had wanted him to stay a few more days but after being at the recieving end of Gibbs' glare he'd given him permission to leave the hospital. As long as there was someone at home with him at all times and under the condition that he'd stay in bed for the next three weeks. The doctor wanted to be careful, a stomach wound had to heal properly. Especially at his age. And after the way the surgery had went.

He'd been a little hesitant to release him in Jenny's care because she still had her arm in a sling but after a double glare and the reassurance of Dr. Mallard that he'd keep an eye on them he'd caved and signed the discharge papers.

Five days had passed since that day. And every day it became harder and harder to keep him in their bed. It started when he'd insisted that they'd stay at his house, and she had agreed. Soon after, she regretted that decicion. Every day seemed to pass by in the same way, Gibbs trying to sneak down to the basement or calling his team. Either way, defying the doctor's orders. Jenny was this close to cuffing him to the bed. And this time, that wasn't something that he was going to enjoy.

The sixth day wasn't any different from all the others. She'd woken up to find an empty place beside her. At first, she'd hoped that he just had to use the bathroom. But when he didn't return in the next ten minutes she knew that there had t obe something else. She searched upstairs and wanted to proceed her search downstairs until she heart that sound coming from the basement.

That soft sanding sound.

With a sigh she opened the door to the basement. "What are you doing down here again?"

He put the sanger down, picked up a hammer and a few nails, and continued to work on his boat, like nothing happened.

"I was bored."

"the doctor told you to take it easy. And I'm sure that this would not qualify."She crossed her arms in front of her chest, trying to give him the best glare she could. The one he'd taught her.

He threw her a look over his shoulder. Choosing not to look at her while she glared at him. He could never wrap his mind around the fact that she'd improved his glare that much that it even made him cave. Once in a while.

"And I thought the doctor told you to put that arm in a sling."

"Tell you what, I'll do that and you get back in bed."

He smirked slightly. She noticed the little wince inbetween. He was still in pain, not that he'd ever admit it.

"Care to join me?"

"Get. Some. Rest."

She waited until he'd closed the bedroom door behind him. Takign the opportunity to sneak in to his study and catch up on some work. Even after Cynthia told her to stay away from work as long as she needed it, she was unable to put it aside. She had to do something. Luckily she had taken some of her old things to his house now she finally had the time to finish them.

Her cell phone rang, she didn't even bother to look at the caller ID, she already knew who'd be at the other end.

"Didn't I tell you to get soem rest?"

"I tried but there seems to be somethign missing from the room, do you have any idea what it could be?"

Jenny laughed and snuggled a bit further in the chair. When they first started dating, that had been his excuse to visit her, even if it was 2am in the morning. They always spent those nights in her bed. At fist, it was just sleeping in each other's arms. But after a few of those late night dates, sleeping had turned out to be the last thing on their minds.

She missed those days.

Thinking about it, they had reconciled almost two months ago and they were still taking things slow. That means, no sex in those two months, and she was more than ready for that to change.

Soon.

Maybe she should call his doctor to ask him when he'd be ready for some physical action.

"Jen, you still there? You didn't fall asleep did you?"

"No, I was just." Jenny tried to find the right word. Thinking he would be able to catch her in a lie even if he couldn't see the eye twitch.

"I was just remembering."

"So are you turning in soon? The agency won't collapse just because you decided to sleep in and take some time off."

"It won't, especially if you're home with me."

Their banter came just as easily as it had done before. The quick exchange of words was for both of them a way to keep themselves on their toes.

"Jen you need your rest too."

"I just got out of bed! I'm done sleeping for a while."

"Jen." The growling wat in which he said her name made it obvious that sleep was probably the last thing he wanted to do right now.

"Get your mind out of the gutter Jethro, your doctor told you to get rest. And I doubt he included that in it." She heard him grumble at the other end. With a smile she hung up. Even if she shared his opinion it was still fun to tick him off.

Only five minutes later the phone rang again. With a sigh she picked it up, again. "What now?"

"Did I catch you at a bad time Jennifer?"

"Oh no, not at all Ducky, I just expected it to be Jethro."

"Aren't the two of you staying in the same house?"

"Has that ever stopped him ofrom being a pain?"

She could hear the older man laugh t the other end. "Point taken my dear."

"Did you just call to check on my sanity or was there another reason?"

"Yes, would it be possible for me to visit our patient at noon? I still have to finish this autopsy and let Mr. Palmer take care of the paperwork but then.." Jenny cut him off befoer he had a chance to tell one of his long stories.

"That will be fine Ducky. But you should probably not mention your cases."

"Of course."

* * *

Ducky's visit had passed by smoothly. He had kept Gibbs busy talking about the past, his mother's new fascination with ninja's and almost everything else under the sun. Not a word was spoken about any new case. That was, until Jen caught him an hour later with a phone in his hand, callign to check up on his team.

"Jethro, you know they can handle it."

"Just making sure Jen."

"Mhm." She made a disbelieving sound and held out her hand, a stern look on her face. Like she was disciplining her five year old not to play with their parents phone instead of a grown adult. With a sigh he gave in and handed over the phone.

Anything to get that look off her face. It reminded him too much of his own mother. And that was, as Abby would say, very very creepy.

* * *

Another day had passed, and it had been very tiring. Jethro had to be one of the worst patients ever. Jenny was glad that he wasn't sick often, she wasn't sure if she would be able to handle it if he was. It seemed like he was never able to follow a simple instruction. Getting rest for example.

After that phone call to the team, she'd caught him four other times. One time outside the study, twice in his basement and the last time had been in the kitchen. Jenny was glad that he was regaining a bit of his appetite but she still sent him back upstairs, with the promise to bring him some dinner later.

Finally she was able to get back in bed. Maybe she would take Jethro's advice and sleep in the next morning. Jenny slipped under the covers, making sure that she didn't put her weight on her injured shoulder. Jethro watched her as she tried to get comfortable, twisting and turning almost every second. He heard her sigh in annoyance.

"What's wrong?"

"Just can't seem to find a comfortable position."

"Come here." She moved a little closer and leaned her head on his shoulder, trying to keep her weight off his chest and especially his stomach.

"Better?" She smiled up at him.

"Much." To be completely honest, she could still feel her shoulder sting, now that it was a little caught between her own body and his arm. He grinned softly.

"Liar. Want to switch sides?"

"Yes." She sighed gratefully. She should've known that he would be able to catch her little lie. But she hadn't wanted to trouble him, shifting sides was probably going to hurt him more than it did to her. With a little difficulty they switched sides and then she was finally able to settle herself in a comfortable position. She listened closely if her husband gave any indication of pain when she laid her head on his shoulder. Thankfully, there was none.

It felt strange to lay on this side of the bed. In all the years they'd been married, seperated or not, this side, the right side of the bed, had always been his side. And it took her a while to ajust to these new conditions.

* * *

Gibbs woke up when he heard something clinging downstairs. It sounded like someone was fixing breakfast, but he could still feel the weight of Jen's head on his shoulder. He opened his eyes, it was still dark, a quick look at the alarm clock told him it was no where near breakfast time. 3 o' clock in the morning might be suitable for some people to eat. But nearly everyone was supposed to be sleeping at this time of night.

He glanced at his wife, deciding not to wake her up. He took his weapon from inside the nightstand and headed downstairs as quietly as possible. It took him a while to reach the end of the stairs and found the light on in the kitchen. He made sure his gun was ready to fire when he stepped inside to surprise his burglar.

"Hello Jethro."

He almost dropped his gun in surprise.

"You!"


	16. Secrets

**_I just realised this story has been up for more than a year! I'm sorry I missed my own anniversary post but it's just a week late or something. not that bad right? I even stayed within a month between updates this time (things are looking up ;) )  
And Aly, here's the story you wanted :)_**

* * *

**Chapter 16: Secrets**

_Gibbs woke up when he heard something clinging downstairs. It sounded like someone was fixing breakfast, but he could still feel the weight of Jen's head on his shoulder. He opened his eyes, it was still dark, a quick look at the alarm clock told him it was no where near breakfast time. 3 o' clock in the morning might be suitable for some people to eat. But nearly everyone was supposed to be sleeping at this time of night._

_He glanced at his wife, deciding not to wake her up. He took his weapon from inside the nightstand and headed downstairs as quietly as possible. It took him a while to reach the end of the stairs and found the light on in the kitchen. He made sure his gun was ready to fire when he stepped inside to surprise his burglar._

"_Hello Jethro."_

_He almost dropped his gun in surprise._

"_You!"_

--

"Do you point you weapon at all your fathers- in-law or am I that special?"

"Just the ones that keep showing up in my house unannounced."

"Technically, the last time it wasn't your house, it was my daughters."

"We were never that specific in our pre-nup."

Gibbs finally put his gun away. There was no reason to shoot the man in front of him. Yet.

"Hm.. I thought I'd taught her better than that."

"Apparently not."Another voice came from the doorway, both men smiled at the woman standing there. Still a little drowsy Jenny rubbed her eyes.

"Sorry I woke you Jennybear."

"It's fine dad. Why are you here?"

"Well I heard my little girl and son-in-law were injured so I wanted to see how they were for myself. How are you?" Jasper sent his daughter a concerned look, she sighed.

"I'm fine Dad. Have been for the last week that I've been home. You could've called first." The irritation was not very obvious in her voice, but both men did see it in her eyes. Jasper looked down, he hesistated before he started to talk again. Knowing his daughter wasn't going to appreciate this and wouldn't want to hear it. But his fatherly instincts still had the upperhand. And this was about his daughter's safety.

"I came to warn you."He looked up in his daughter's eyes. "One of my old friends contacted me and told me to pass the message on. He told me that my Director daughter should keep her nose out of places where it doesn't belong."

Gibbs immediately got a concerned look on his face, his hand went to his side. Not to reach for his gun, but to call his team and let them trace back the source of the threat. The soft hand on his own stopped him. His eyes met Jenny's and hers pleaded him to wait a moment longer. Instead of finishing his previous action he asked Jasper a question.

"Who was this 'old friend'?"

"Someone from the old days, Alex Stevenson. Very good with all kinds of technical things."He threw his daughter a meaningful look. She rolled her eyes, the look on her face told Gibbs that there was a story behind it. One she hadn't told him before.

"Tell me. Everything."

"It was a need to know basis Jethro. And you weren't a part of it."

He nodded, understanding immediately "Undercover opp."

She knew he expected the full story, but tried to delay it as long as possible. Jenny stood up and walked to the liquor cabinet.

"I need a drink."

This time it was his hand that covered hers.

"Jen." His voice sounded dark, and its tone a little demanding.

"No Jethro, the operation is still in motion. You cannot know just yet."

"Dammit Jen, your life might be in danger here. And the lives of the agents involved."

She glared at him, her green eyes lit up in fury.

"Don't you think I know that?"

"How many agents are involved anyway?" She hesitated for a moment. Telling him that couldn't hurt now could it?

"Three."He watched her, trying to catche her in a lie but for once her eye didn't twitch. Was she telling the truth after all?

Jasper scraped his throat and interrupted the conversation between the two spouses. Something the team would never try. Not when the air around the mwas this tense.

"Stevenson talked about four people involved."

This was not good. If someone already knew about all of them, they were all at rish. And she wasn't supposed to contact them until the day after tomorrow. She turned to her father.

"That friend of yours, is he going to tell?"

"Don't worry Jen, your agents are fine for the moment."

"So the fourth one, he an agent too?" Gibbs narrowed his eyes when he saw her hesitate.

"No, he isn't. I think you might even know him. He's a marine**.**"She hesitated again. "He was involved in a case not too long ago." A few names passed through his mind. But none jumped up at him. He gave her a confused look and she decided to give him one last hint.

"You met his son too. Remember him? Very smart boy. Reminded me of someone I know."

"Tanner?" When she didn't answer he already knew that he was right.

--

Jasper Shepard had left right after the cat got out of the bag, knowing that he'd done his part and that it was all up to his daughter right now. He'd kissed his daughter on her forehead and left the house. Telling her that he'd call her later if he found out something new.

Gibbs and Jen held a stare off, but she refused to tell him antthing else. Suddenly she broke their gaze and headed for her study.

"I hace to go to work tomorrow. There are some things I need to check up on."Gibbs had followed her and was leaning against the doorway.

"There is nothing you can do right now Jen, go to bed."

"Absently she replied "I'll be right there."

Gibbs rolled his eyes again, knowing that there was nothing he could do when she got in a mood like this. And also knowing that this could make sure nothing happened to the agents undercover. If Jenny was good in one thing, it was in making escape plans. Her plans had gotten them out of tricky situations before. Her plans were also the reason why he and Ducky still had a warrent for their arrest in France.

--

"Good morning my silver haired fox, how are you feeling? Can I hug you? Of does that hurt, well of course it does, stupid question Abby." With a concerned look on her face she saw the amused look on Gibbs' face. "Why haven't you said anything?"

He rolled his eyes and sent her a comforting smile.

"I would've if I had the chance."

"Right, sorry Gibbs." Abby looked down at her feet with a guilty look on her face. "I know I'm not supposed to say I'm sorry but.."

Gibbs interrupted her rant "Come here Abbs."He nudged her with his head, her face lit up. She immediately leaned over the bed and hugged Gibbs. He fought back a wince. Even Abby's gentile hugs were a little too rough for him at the moment. And when she made no indication of letting him go, he gently pried himself out of her grip.

"So the Director asked me to take care of you this morning, at least until she returned. And look who came with me!"Abby pulled something out of her bag. "It's Bert, he wanted to stay here just so you'll never feel lonely."She held the toy tightly and it farted, like it had done a million times before, just before she handed it to Gibbs. He looked at it with a look that obviously asked 'what the hell would I do with this'. But he accepted the stuffed animal either way. Abby rushed out of the room to make him some breakfast before he had a chance to thank her.

--

Jenny looked at her phone, she was expecting a call any moment now. She'd left Abby in charge of Jethro for the day. And he probably hadn't taken her decision well.

Secretly she laughed, she know he was going to be very annoyed after spending the morning with Abby. Even if she was his favourite, there was only that much Abby-ness someone could take.

Especially when they didn't have coffee to fall back on.

She glanced at the clock on the wall, maybe if she hurried she would be able to make it home a little sooner than she'd planned.

--

"Gibbs! I thought I told you to stay in bed!"

Like a deer caught in headlights he looked up from working on the frame of his boat. Maybe it hadn't been such a good choice of Jen's to pick Abby to take care of him after all. With her arms crossed in front of her chest she sent him a glare. One very close to the one he always gave when someone pissed him off.

"I was just finishing this rib." He replied.

"Back to bed. Now."

Or maybe her glare resembled Jenny's more. Either way, this time, he decided to follow her order. After all, she could kill him and leave no forensic evidence behind. Grumbling like a little boy when who got his favourite toy taken away he passed her in the doorway and headed back upstairs, With a smile on her face Abby watched him as he headed up the stairs in the direction of his bedroom.

Gibbs quietly walked down the stairs, even though he could hear Abby's music playing in the living room. He didn't want her to catch him while he headed for the study. Again.

When he finally got inside he searched through the paper on the desk and in the drawers, hoping that there was somethign that involved the undercover operation they'd talked about last night.

"Find anything interesting?"

He looked up to find his wife in the doorway. She was standing in a similar position to the one he'd been standing in last night. Apparently his search had taken longer than he'd thought.

"No actually."

She sighed deeply. Now that she'd taken care of almost everything to make sure her agents made it out alive, she should be able to fill him in.

"Sit down, I'll brief you."


	17. Fighting

**_A little short, but that was the perfect way to end this chapter -grins-_**

**Chapter 17: Fighting**

* * *

Gibbs woke up when he felt Jenny shift in his arms, in her sleep she'd moved her head from his shoulder to his chest. Trying not to wake her up, he moved his head around. Sleeping on the couch in his study hadn't been very comfortable, and after these few hours of sleep he had several kinks in his neck. Somewhere during the night neither had the energy left to walk up the stairs, and they'd fallen asleep in this exact position. Oh how he regretted it right now.

He could feel his stomach starting to sting again. Jen's head was still a little too heavy to carry. He decided to bite back the pain for a little while longer, not waking his wife up just yet. And so, giving himself the time to think about everything she'd told him last night.

Her undercover operation involved weapon dealing to Pakistan. At first they'd thought it involved La Grenouille too but it hadn't stopped after his death. And after that, there had been only one other lead, but it was a lead heading for a huge smoking gun. As usual Jenny wanted to finish this case herself. Even if it wasn't certain that there were Marines involved or anyone else that had anything to do with the Navy.

Their first lead showed some contact involving some kind of 'shipment' and weapons were mentioned. Everything had been discussed over computer in some kind of forum, which was highly protected.

That's why she'd contacted Commander Tanner, there were very few people with his computer skills and his loyalty. And even less people who'd been through hell already and were still willing to go through it again. Possibly.

The only condition Tanner had was that they had to make sure that his son would end up in a good, loving family if, God forbid, ever anything happened to him.

Gibbs was still unsure what to think of it. Tanner was so called working with the enemy as a computer tech, with not much responsibility and who was very afraid of his life. Zack was safely away at boarding school. It seemed to work out perfectly. The three other agents involved were NCIS, Jen tried to keep everything as much inside her own agency as possible.

He felt his wife stir, and she slowly lifted her head off his chest.

"Morning."

"Morning Jethro."

"Want some coffee?" She nodded and put her head back on his chest. Snuggling into his warmth again.

"Jen, I can't make you coffee if you're lying on top of me."He told her with a slightly amused voice.

"Too bad." She curled her fingers in his shirt. And just for a moment, they pretended hat they didn't have busy lives to get back to. They pretended that they were just like any other couple relaxing on a Sunday morning in bed.

Unfortunately their little illusion ended abruptly when Jen's phone started ringing. A little reluctantly she untangled herself from him and picked up her phone from the desk.

"Shepard."

"Good morning to you too Cynthia."

"What?" Jenny held the phone away from her ear for a moment, looking at something on the display of her phone.

"Tell him I'm going to be five minutes late. No wait tell him I'll be right there. I think I can still make it."

She quickly shut the phone and grabbed some things from the desk. She hurried out the room in search of her shoes. Only to come back a few moments later when she realised she'd left them under the couch.

"Jethro, wake up. It's almost eleven. I have to go. Right now."

"Aren't I the one who still has to stay at home just like someone ordered me to?"

Jenny rolled her eyes, it was just like him to start being difficult in a time like this.

"Come on, I need you to drive me to the office. I have a meeting at eleven and you're the only one who can drive fast enough to make it there in time. If you think you can drive and do some paperwork at your desk later."

When she mentioned paperwork his face changed to a look of disgust. But the opportunity to get out of the house. Be without a babysitter and to be maybe a little involved with the case his team was working on was too tempting to resist.

--

"Boss, you're back! I thought you had to stay at home for a little while longer?"

"Apparently not, DiNozzo. Care to fill me in on our latest case?" Gibbs sat down behind his desk in the bullpen, glaring at Ziva and Tony when he saw them exchange worried glances. When neither of them answered his question he turned to the last member of his team.

"McGee. Fill me in."

The nervous man rattled all the facts off and told him that Abby was still processing some of the evidence they'd found at the crime scene. Gibbs wanted to tell them how to follow up on the case but he was interrupted by Cynthia.

"Special Agent Gibbs? The Director asked me to deliver these files personally and to make sure that you start working on them." She didn't even flinch when Gibbs gave her his famous glare. "And she also told me that if you were getting involved again she wanted to remind you that Abby still has the next couple of days off, and that she's only here today on voluntary basis."

Gibbs held out his hand and accepted the files while rolling his eyes. Jen knew him a little too well. But even she couldn't make sure that he stayed out of this case. There was no way in hell he was going to do paperwork the entire day. And as soon as Cynthia walked back up the stairs to her own desk he pushed the files aside and went to check on Abby, Something inside him was telling him that she'd found something useful for their case.

--

"He did what?! Oh I'm going to have a word with him right now." Jenny disconnected her call and quickly called her assistant.

"Cynthia could you please send Special Agent Gibbs up here?" She rubbed her temples, the headache she'd developed during the meeting with SecNav was only getting worse. To be honest, she could've known that her husband would get too involved and that he would disobey her orders. But for his own health, she had to stop him before he went out in the field again. And she would chain him to the desk for the remaining hours of the day if she had to.

The sound of the door opening snapped her out of her thoughts. He'd gotten here sooner than she'd expected.

"I see you still don't know how to knock Jethro."

He rolled his eyes. "Why did you call me up here Director?"

"I just got this very interesting call, telling me you've been investigating the case your team is working on."

"So, they're my team. It's part of our job."

Jenny rose from her seat, glaring at him. "I told you. The only thing you're allowed to do right now is desk work."

"Come on Jen, you know I'd go insane."

"I don't care, you're not fully recovered yet. You're not ready to start your job again."

"I haven't even left the damn building!" They were glaring at each other by now, and their voices had gotten louder and louder.

"If you keep this up, I'm going to send you home with Abby to look after you."

"Last time I checked you weren't my MOTHER!"

"No but I am your WIFE and you're not going to end up in that hospital again!"

"Well that wasn't part of my plan either Jennifer. I'm just here to do my job!" This shouting match had to be one of the worst they ever had. Jenny hated her full name, with passion. And this was the first time ever that he'd used it. And if looks could kill, six feet under would've been nothing. The look she gave him was more like an instant cremation.

"Well, Leroy," she dragged out the name for a full effect, and inside she smiled when she saw him wince at the name "as your Superior I'm sending you home. And as your wife, I'm ordering you to stay in bed." He glared at her, once again.

"We'll see about that."

And with furious strides he walked out the door, blazed past Cynthia's desk who didn't even startled when the door was slammed shut. She'd learned quite a while ago that it was very useful to carry earplugs with her at all time. She took them out of her ears when she noticed the button for an incoming call.  
"Yes Director? I'll make sure you have some Tylenol soon." She put the phone back and wanted to stand up. Another sound startled her, something she wasn't used to. Then three joined voices sounded from down in the squadroom.

"Boss!"

* * *

**_Evil right? Just remember, if you kill me now, you'll never find out what will happen ;)_**


	18. Hospital Visit

**_So after being reassured that it doesn't matter how long the chapter is, updating is better than not updating at all. I present to you, the next chapter of OFAS and my apologies for the long wait (once again)._**

**_You know you love me for my irregular updates ;) Enjoy and let me know what you think!_**

* * *

**Chapter 18: Hospital Visit (Again)**

"Someone call 911. Quickly!" Tony, Ziva and Tim rushed over to their boss, checking his vitals and making sure that he hadn't gotten another injury. The fabric of his shirt started to colour red. Ziva quickly ripped it open and put pressure on the just reopened stitches.

"Jethro!" Jenny rushed down the stairs but making sure that she didn't lose her balance too. She kneeled besides her husbands body, stroking his face and hair, talking to him in hushed tones. Hoping to get some kind of response. Jenny pulled her hand back when she felt something sticky and warm on the back of his head. His deep red blood covered her fingers and she had to keep it out of her sight to make sure that she wouldn't faint. Blood she could handle, her husband's blood, every time he got hurt it got more difficult.

"Where is he?" Ducky kneeled at the other side of his body, right beside Ziva. Thanks to McGee's quick thinking Ducky had gotten out of autopsy sooner than expected. He tried to stabilize Gibbs as good as possible. His equipment wasn't mean for people whose heart was still beating.

After what seemed like forever, but in reality hadn't even been ten minutes, the paramedics showed up. They quickly took over from Ducky, stabilizing Gibbs for transport. When they'd put him on the gurney one of the men asked

"Are there any relatives we can contact?" Jnny stepped forward, her hand still covered in his blood. " I'm his wife."

"Would you like to accompany us to the hospital Ma'am?"

"Please." Jenny nodded and her voice had gotten softer and even a little more shakey. She cleared her throat and looked around the squad room.

"Move along people, there's nothing to be seen here." Her voice sounded firm, but if anyone had watched her hands, they would've seen them shake in fear. When the paramedics rolled the gurney toward the elevator she followed them. She never could stand to be far away from him when he'd gotten hurt. Never could, never will.

Even on their first mission in France she hadn't left him by himself. It hadn't been as serious as his last three visits but he'd been shot back then. The bullet in his shoulder hadn't hit anything major but it would take quite some time for him to return full function of his arm, the doctor told them that in the best case he would be able to raise his arm horizontally again. She'd stayed with him, nursed him the first couple of days, doing the work that had been planned out for the both of them on her own. On the fourth day he'd stopped her.

"_Jen would you just sit down and relax?"_

"_I van't Jethro, I have a million things to do, I still have to call that forensic, what's his name for the results of that blood test, get some groceries and.." _

_Gibbs struggled to get in a sitting position. While holding himself up with one hand he placed the fingers of his other hand on her lips. The words leaving her mouth turned into a muffle of words with no clear meaning._

_She bit his finger, and he withdrew his hand quickly, Jenny smirked, but her eyes widened in surprise as he replaced it with his mouth. She returned his kiss with the same passion. Too soon she felt his lips leave hers, he leaned back on the hospital bed. Slightly out of breath. _

"_You probably shouldn't strain yourself". _

_He glared when he caught the smirk on her face. With his good arm he pulled her closer, pulling her onto the bed. She squealed. This time he was the one smirking, and he kissed her again, moor passionate now. Their tongues duelled, until a nurse came in, rattling on in French. Jenny quickly got off the bed and blushed as he nodded at the nurse. When the woman finally left after checking his vitals Jethro gave Jenny a questioning look._

"_What did she say?"_

" _That you should be resting, and that I should know better. And if it happens one more time she'll ask the doctor to make sure you're not able to participate in ' extreme physical activities'." _

"_What was that thing she muttered when she left the room?"_

"_Honestly Jethro, why didn't you take some French lessons before flying over here?" _

"_Because I have you for translation, now what did she say?"_

"_I think it was something about horny Americans."_

–_--_

The memory seemed like just yesterday, and the setting was very similar to the one right now. She wished he would wake up to kiss her like that again.

The sound of the door opening shook her out of her thoughts. She turned around and saw the doctor in the door opening.

"Mrs. Shepard-Gibbs?"

"Yes?"

"He is not in any danger, and it's not a coma, he is in a very deep sleep, somewhere between stage 4 and REM-sleep. So it might take him a while to wake up. Jenny opened her mouth to ask him a question, but the doctor cut her off. " Yes you can try talking to him, I've seen a lot of patients where it was very effective for a faster wake up."

Jenny nodded in understanding and thanked the doctor when he exited the room. She turned back to Gibbs, taking her husband's hand in hers.

"Jethro? You still can't pace yourself can you?" she smiled "that was more something that you'd say to me wasn't it? The kids would want me to tell you they're thinking about you. I sent them back to the headquarters, Tony and Tim almost had to drag Abby out of here. I know you wouldn't want them to worry about you that much." Jenny fell silent for a moment, even if he was asleep, she thought that it would be bise to leave the part that his team was checking on commander Tanner out. Telling him that would probably give some kind of response, but not the one the doctors and herself would like to see right now.

"Remember that time in Paris? When you just got shot? Whell I wasn't completely honest with you back then. The nurse said something slightly different when she left the room. I gave you the wrong translation because it really wasn't the time to inflate your ego some more." Jenny smiled and looked down at their hands while she stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. "She said ' not that I can blame her'." She let her gaze travel to her face, and noticed that he'd started to smile. "Jethro? Are you awake honey?" she got up and kissed his forehead, then she pushed the alarm button next to the bed. When a nurse finally entered she looked up long enough to tell her that he was waking up before she turned back to him. The nurse quickly ran out the get the doctor.

"Come on Jethro, can you open your eyes for me?"


	19. Circles of Hell

_**I want to thank everyone who's still sticking with me on this story even if I haven't updated this in the record I have no medical knowledge whatsoever. I put in some of my (psychology based) knowledge about sleep in and made it a little interesting. Or in short: I have no idea if it's even possible.**_

_**Any corrections are always welcome. I'll start this chapter with the last lines of the last one, because I didn't even remember what they were. ;-)**_

_**(and just because I haven't written one in ages: disclaimer: I don't own a thing. Doesn't the term 'dis'-claimer make that obvious?)**_

* * *

**Chapter 19: Circles of Hell**

_"Remember that time in Paris? When you just got shot? Whell I wasn't completely honest with you back then. The nurse said something slightly different when she left the room. I gave you the wrong translation because it really wasn't the time to inflate your ego some more." Jenny smiled and looked down at their hands while she stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. "She said ' not that I can blame her'." She let her gaze travel to her face, and noticed that he'd started to smile. "Jethro? Are you awake honey?" she got up and kissed his forehead, then she pushed the alarm button next to the bed. When a nurse finally entered she looked up long enough to tell her that he was waking up before she turned back to him. The nurse quickly ran out the get the doctor._

_"Come on Jethro, can you open your eyes for me?"_

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Shepard-Gibbs."

"Please, it's Jenny."

"Jenny." The doctor paused for a moment, knowing that the news he had would devastate the woman in front of him. "Your husband's condition hasn't changed."

A look of disbelief filled Jenny's face, absently she reached for Gibbs' hand, lacing her fingers with his.

"I don't understand, I saw him smile."

"I'm afraid that that was just a reflex. You see, your husband might be in a very deep sleep, but he hasn't reached the REM-stage yet. That means the kind of paralysis that comes with it, hasn't been activated just yet. A more common way of showing that would be sleepwalking, but because of the injury he suffered, that has changed. That would mean he still has control of his muscles but the brain waves did not indicate that there was any action planned. The only explanation is that it was an involuntarily reaction to his surroundings. Or to put it easily, a reflex."

He gave the woman in front of him an encouraging smile when he left the room again. Even after all these years, it was difficult to be the bringer of bad news.

–

Somewhere in a closed off location, a man sat in a dark basement, the walls were bare and the only light was the small stream that came through the small window in the door. He wasn't sure how many days it had been since they left him there. But counting by the meals, he thought it was six days. Or maybe nine. When he started this mission he knew there'd be trouble. He knew there was a chance they'd catch him. But now it finally happened, he was still in shock.

He'd gotten too close. And they wanted to terminate him before he could leak their secrets to the outside world. That much he figured. But why they didn't do it immediately, that's where he drew a blank. He'd tried many different things to keep his mind of the things that could happen to him. Relive memories, recite passages of the books he remembered, the different aspects of a boat, everything he could think of.

The door of the basement opened, and one of his kidnappers stood at the top of the stairs. Pointing at him with his gun.

" You, get up here. You're going to your new location."

A little hesitant, he got up. But when he heard the safety pal click, he increased his speed.

They blindfolded him and bound his arms behind his back. They pushed him into something and started to drive off. He wanted to try to remember the road, but with all the bumps, and all the shaking he soon lost his sense of direction.

For what seemed like hours they drove around, halfway the roads had gotten better but he still had no idea where he was. The guards around him hadn't spoken a word. Just a few gruff commands when he tried to get the knots in the rope around his hand looser. Finally the car stopped and he was pushed outside again. He stumbled out and was roughly pulled along.

When one of the men finally took off his blindfold he was in another small room, but this one had some supplies in it. Before he could identify the various things his attention was brought back to his captors with a right hook in his face.

A heavily accented voice started to talk, "Well, well, what do we have here. An American."

Tanner looked up at the man and gave him a fierce glare. "So what are you, Army, Marine, Navy, CIA?" The man leaned closer when the Commander refused to answer.

"Do I have to repeat my question again?"

Still, Commander Tanner made no sign of movement. The man in front of him ran his hand through his moustache, agitated.

"Answer me!"

Tanner looked down, he'd been able to resist torture the last time. He knew he could do it again, the only thing that went through his mind was a feeling of relief, knowing that his son was safe and far away and that they wouldn't be able to use him this time. When the sharp pain of a knife pushing through the flesh just above his kneecaps came into his thoughts he tried his best not to cry out in pain. Another man, this one without a moustache but with an evil grin on his face started to move the knife around. Twisting it, but not deep enough to cut through the muscle.

"Who do you work with!"

The Moustache man yelled in his ear, and the Commander felt a trail of spit travel down his cheek. But he kept his face stern.

A third man, one who probably used to be some kind of bodybuilder entered. In his hands, there was a big iron hammer. His eyes followed the man, and when Moustache man nodded he watched as the hammer was slammed down on his other kneecap. This time, he couldn't keep himself from screaming. He wasn't sure if he'd ever felt anything that hurt more. Moustache man pulled his head back by his hair.

"I'm asking you one last time, and if you're not going to answer me, I'll ask Omar here to make you your own very special brand. Tanner shifted his eyes from Mustache mand to Omar, who had replaced his knife with an orange glowing iron, but still had the grin on his face.

"How nice, I always wanted one of those." Through his pain, he tried to grin back.

"Fine, than we'll make you're dream come true."

Omar walked up to him and the last thing Tanner smelt before he passed out was the smell of his own burning flesh.

--

Back in the hospital, Jenny and Ducky sat on either side of Gibbs' hospital bed. Jenny's eyes were red and puffy from crying. She'd called Ducky to make him explain how this all could've happened. And now they were trying one of the other methods that was often used to get someone out of a coma. Talking to them.

They'd discussed every single adventure the three of them had together. From the day they met, until now. Jenny was glad they'd sent the team home, because the story they did know, about stealing a boat, didn't even make the top ten of illegal and strange things they'd done over the years. It was just the only time they did get caught.

Jenny stroked Jethro's hand as she felt her head get heavy. The calm voice of Dr. Mallard telling one of his stories always was one of her favourite ways to fall asleep.

--

Commander Tanner woke up when he felt a splash of water hit his face.

"Anything you'd like to tell us?"

Tanner spat out some of the water that had come into his mouth. "Go.. f**k ..yourself."

"Ceative. Would you like some more water?"

The Commander looked confused for a moment, why would they be offering him water? It was more likely that they would try to starve him to death. But then he noticed the funnel one of them held in his hands. And when he opened his mouth to answer and protest the funnel was shoved in, scraping the inside of his throat. Omar and the bodybuilder carried a few buckets of water in and poured them one by one in the funnel. Tanner tried to swallow but there was too much water to keep up. He tried to caugh, but that only made the water enter his lungs too.

"Most people prefer the electroshocks or sodium pentothal to get their answers. Lucky for you, I'm not one of them, I prefer the more old fashion ways."

For a moment the two men stopped pouring, and Tanner tried to catch his breath.

"Are you sure there is nothing you want to tell me?"

With much difficulty he shook his head.

"Very well, I think I know something you'll probably going to like. Omar, find the thumbscrews, Ivan, bring him to his cell."

And as the bodybuilder threw him back in his cell, Tanner passed out from exhaustion. The only thoughts he had before his mind went completely dark were:

'Please God, take care of my little boy.'

--

"Dad!" A boy woke up from his dream, his pyjama soaked in sweat. Every single time his father left him alone for the night the dreams seemed to appear. But this last week, his dreams had become more real. Like he was watching some kind of live show. Usually he would call his father, just to check in, but he hadn't been able to make contact with him for a while. Yesterday he'd even tried to call his dad's new partner, Agent Green, but he didn't know the answer either. The man had tried to hide his fear but Zach noticed. He got out of bed, glancing at his roommate Jason to check if he was still asleep.

Silently he made his way to his closet and opened the bottom drawer, there, covered underneath old baseball cards, birthday cards and photographs was the small businesscard Agent Gibbs had given him the last time his dad went missing.

Tomorrow morning he'd give him a call. He had a feeling in his stomach that Gibbs would be able to help him. Just like he did last time.


	20. Findings

**_I'm sure many of you thought this would never come. To be honest, for a while so did I. I want to thank everyone who hasn't give up on this story just yet :). Now: read!_**

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**Chapter 20 Findings**

Jenny woke up when one of the nurses entered the room to check the IV and Gibbs' vitals. When she tried to lift her head, she felt a sharp pain in her neck. Obviously it hadn't been a good idea to fall asleep at his bedside and with her head on his bed.

"Would you like us to bring an extra bed in for you, Ma'am?"

Jenny rubbed her neck and smiled at the other woman. "No thank you, I'll try to make it to my own bed tonight."

"Suit yourself"

The nurse left again, and Jenny finally looked at her cell phone, noticing a few missed calls from Cynthia. She stepped outside the room for a moment to return the call to her assistant. She told her that she'd cancelled the next few meetings, so she had until lunch to stay in the hospital. Jenny disconnected the call, reminding herself to give Cynthia a huge bonus at the end of the year.

After grabbing a quick cup of horrible hospital coffee she returned to Jethro's room, where she heard his cell phone ring. Quickly she searched through the table at his bedside where they'd put all his personal affects. Finally she found the phone, but it was unable to identify the number of the incoming call.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Zack Tanner, can I speak to Gibbs please?"

"Zack, Commander Tanner's son?"

"Yes, can I talk to Gibbs now?"

Jenny looked at the peaceful face of her husband, and tried to find the right words to tell the boy the news.

"Zack, I'm Jenny, remember me?"

"The Director with the red hair?"

Jenny smiled. "Yes, that's me. I'm really sorry but Jethro won't be able to take your call right now. He is sleeping."

"Can't you wake him up?"

She hesitated, "it's a different kind of sleep, he is in a coma."

It was silent on the other end of the line for a moment, then the boy's soft voice returned. "Okay, can you help me instead? I had a dream last night, bad men were hurting my dad again."

"Zack.."

"I know something is wrong, it was not just a dream, I had a feeling in my stomach that it was all real."

"Listen to me Zack," Jenny tried to speak in a soothing voice "I'm going to make sure my agents find out about your father. And I will call you as soon as I hear something. Okay?"

"Okay." Jenny heard voices on the other end of the line, arguing with the boy."

"I have to go now Jenny, I'm not allowed to use this phone. Bye!"

After the conversation ended, Jenny stood there, looking outside the window, overthinking the talk she just had with Zack. Her fingers blindly dialing another number.

"I need you to double the agents on the search for Commander Tanner, I don't care who, just do it. His son is worried."

--

A car came to a screeching stop in front of Bethesda, one of the back doors opened and a body wrapped up in plastic garbage bags was thrown out. There was no one to be seen and the car quickly drove away. Mud splattered across the plates to make them unrecognizable.

One of the doctors who'd been outside smoking ran over to the plastic package. She tried to pull some of the plastic away, uncovering his face. With some difficulty she wrung her hand underneath the plastic trying to feel his heartbeat in his neck.

It was barely there.

"Quick, someone get a team and a gurney. And a knife!"

One of the nurses ran inside to fulfill the request and another doctor dropped his cigarette and joined the woman who was still trying to pull the plastic off.

--

Tony, Ziva and McGee had been drafted into the search for Commander Tanner, they'd put out the usual BOLO, had tried to locate his cell phone, and every single thing they could think of besides heading out there themselves. Their Director had ordered another team to go to Pakistan themselves. And they hadn't found any information either. Not that the locals were very keen on releasing information.

The few leads they had, had turned out to be dead ends and Gibbs' team, back in the headquarters hadn't found anything either. Until one of their phones rang.

"Officer David."

"Where?"

"We'll be on our way." Ziva looked at the expectant faces of DiNozzo and McGee, "Fifteen minutes ago a John Doe was dropped off at Bethesda, and for so far they can see, it looks like it's Commander Tanner."

"What do you mean for so far they can see?" Tim looked a bit confused, but then Tony threw him a meaningful look. Then the pieces of the puzzle clicked.

"Oh."

Quickly they geared up, and on their way down to the car, Ziva called Jenny to let her know about their finding. Knowing her friend would want the information as quickly as possible.

--

"Thank you Ziva, I'll head down right now to see if it's really him."

Jenny disconnected the call and grabbed Gibbs' hand in hers, "I'm going downstairs, they brought someone in who could possibly be Commander Tanner, Zack's father. I'll try to see if I get a positive ID. I'll be back as soon as possible."

And with one last look she exited the room, and headed for the ER.

This time, she didn't have to call Condi, or show her gun, her badge and title were enough to enter the room of John Doe, escorted by his doctor. She tried her best to keep her face in a neutral look as she neared the bed. The obvious signs of torture were even painful to see. When she was able to get a good look at his face she recognized him immediately. Underneath all those bruises, it was Commander Andrew Tanner.

When she was able to trust her voice again, she gave the doctor the positive identification and told him that her agency would take care of everything else. Including contacting the next of kin. Jenny quickly headed out again, making the required calls and also calling in a few agents to stand guard by the door. She didn't want to risk someone entering Tanner's room and finishing the job.

Then there was her last problem. Should she call his son? She'd promised him she'd call as soon as she'd found something. And finding his father obviously counted.

Or should she leave it to Tanner's next of kin?

Jenny rubbed her temples, she felt a migraine coming up. Usually she would've talked about this with Jethro, but that was obviously out of the question. Still she returned to his room, hoping that the proximity would spark some kind of epiphany.

--

God, this day had passed so very quickly, before she'd known it Abby had shown up and almost pushed her out of Jethro's room. Telling her that she'd take the nightshift and that Gibbs would want her to take a rest.

She'd given in, and now, back at home she didn't know what to do with herself. She'd tried to watch tv, read a book, and finally catching up on some paperwork she still had in her study.

Not that it was working, she'd been reading the same passage for the last fifteen minutes and she still didn't have a clue what it was about. When she'd started to read it for the twentieth time, she felt her eyes get heavy and before finishing the passage once again, she'd fallen asleep with her head on her desk

Her dreams were interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone.

Blindly she grabbed for it, not even looking at the number. "Shepard."


	21. Explanations

**_Here it is, just like I promised! and now let's hope I can keep this up ;) _**

**_--_**

**Chapter 21: Explanations **

The call hadn't taken long, it had been Tanner's doctor. The Commander had gone into cardiac arrest, after appearing to be stable the entire night. They had done everything they could, had tried to revive him several times, but they were unable to get him back. He had asked her if there was any family that needed to be informed, since they'd been unable to reach his next of kin quite yet.

Stunned, she'd told him that she would take care of that, telling him that his son deserved to hear this from someone in person.

After disconnecting the call, she looked over at the grandfather clock in the corner, it was only six am. Telling Zack probably could wait for another hour, she didn't want to disturb his sleep. She spent the hour refreshing herself and checking up on Jethro by calling Abby. Between Abby's rambles about Bert loving his new spot in Gibbs' bed and the creepy janitor that had walked through the hall the entire night glancing in the room every single time, she'd understood that there was still no change in Jethro's situation.

Even though she hadn't expected there to be much change overnight, there was a little piece of her heart that broke while hearing the news.

Jenny left a note for Noemi and left the house, her driver waiting for her and they left to bring a little boy awful news. From what she remembered from her conversation with the doctor, they'd called his next of kin, an old friend names Alan Masterson, earlier that night and they had informed him of his condition. Unfortunately Alan had been in Hawaii at the time, and wasn't scheduled to fly back until this morning. Maybe that was the reason why they'd been unable to reach him earlier.

She watched as they passed by the buildings and later on, the many trees. Jenny felt guilty for not calling Zack last night, she ruined the only chance that boy had to see his father alive. Even if he was in terrible shape. Maybe it was meant to be, a boy that age shouldn't be burdened with the sight of his beaten father as a last memory. Finally after what seemed like hours, but in reality had only been twenty minutes, they reached their destination.

The door opened, her driver held the handle while she got out of the car. Jenny took a deep breath as she looked at the building in front of her. This was it, she really had to do it. It wasn't like she'd told someone this bad news before, but it had never been someone she knew on a personal level. And she'd never given this kind of news to a child before either.

She walked up the steps to the front door where she was greeted by the assistant of the principal.

--

There was a knock on the door.

"Zachary Tanner, are you there?" The two boys inside the room looked at each other, wondering why their principal was knocking at their door this early in the morning. Classes hadn't even started yet. Zack felt a strange feeling in his stomach while he walked over to the door, but he opened it anyway. On the other side stood his principal, with a sad look on his face, and a redheaded woman, Gibbs' boss.

"Jenny!"

"Hello Zack, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jenny smiled at him, a little sadly,

"Sure."

The principal motioned for his roommate Ben to wait outside with him. As Ben left the room, Jenny entered. Zack sat down on his bed, and Jenny sat down on Ben's bed.

"I hope I didn't wake you?"

"No, I've been awake for almost an hour, we always get up around seven here. Did you find something about my father?"

Jenny was surprised by the flood of words that came out of the boy's mouth. For a small version of Gibbs, he certainly seemed to talk a lot. She saw the concerned look on the boy's face, and she knew she had to tell him the bad news, even though it broke her heart. He deserved to know.

"Zack, I am really sorry. We found your dad. And he was in the hospital."

"I already knew that, Uncle Alan, Dad's friend told me."

"I know honey, but I'm afraid the bad men hurt your daddy so very badly that his heart couldn't take it anymore. The doctors tried their best to save him, but they couldn't get his heart to start again. I'm so very sorry. He.. has gone to heaven."

She watched as the realization of the news hit him. He looked down at his lap. Playing with his fingers. Then his voice sounded so very softly that it took Jenny every strength she had not to burst into tears herself.

"So.. he died? He's with mom now?"

"Yes he is." Jenny sat down next to the little boy, and pulled him into an embrace. "I'm sure of it."

After being silent for a few minutes, Zack had asked her if he could visit Gibbs. She was amazed that the small boy hadn't cried yet, and she felt herself unable to say no to him. On their way to Bethesda, she observed him as he looked out of the window. It had started to rain. How fitting.

When they took the last turn, and could see the hospital clearly, she knew she had to prepare him. Knowing that seeing Gibbs hurt was going to be difficult for Zack.

"Jethro is very tired and might not look very well, but I'm sure he'll be very glad to see you." She smiled at the boy, encouragingly. She guided the boy into the hospital. Hoping that he'd be able to open up to Gibbs.

--

They entered the hospital room, and quietly closed the door when they noticed that Gibbs was still asleep. Zack sat down in the chair next to the bed and Jenny pulled another next to it. Zack slipped his hand under Gibbs' and Jenny could see that the small boy was trying his best to stay brave.

"Do you want something to drink Zack? Maybe some hot chocolate?"

Zack smiled at her, she could tell it was not a real smile, but she nodded and left the room. With one last look through door, she hoped that this would give the boy a chance to open up.

When he heard the sound of Jenny's heels die away he finally let the tears fall from his eyes. He continues to cry until there are no tears left, softly muttering "It's not fair." He suddenly he felt a bit exhausted. And with the thought that he had to ask Jenny if he could see his father, he fell asleep with his head on the side of Gibbs' bed.

He heard the sobs first, mixed with something spoken, but he couldn't identify what exactly the voice was saying. Then he felt hair brush against the back of his hand, and a small hand under his own. Slowly, and with slight difficulty he opened his eyes. Seeing the head of his mini-me. Or whatever Abby used to call him. He raised his hand to softly stroke his hair. After a few minutes, Jenny entered. With in her hands, two cups of coffee. Well, at least one cup.

"Jetho, you're awake!"

He lifted his other hand sign her to be quiet as he motioned to the boy at the side of the bed. Jenny nodded, but the smile on her face grew. She quickly put the cups away and leaned over to kiss him. It was just a short peck, but he could feel her love warming him once again.

"I was so scared that you wouldn't wake up."

"I couldn't leave you here now, could I." She smiled at him once again, but then turned her head to the boy, and her smile disappeared .

"Commander Andrew Tanner died last night."

On the list of things he wasn't expecting to hear right now, that was pretty high. "What happened?"

Jenny glanced at Zack, making sure that he was still asleep. "They beat him, and dumped him here, he was still alive, but later that night, he had a heart attack and they couldn't revive him."

"Has Zack seen him yet?"

"No, I was going to take him down there later."

"I'm coming with you."

"Jethro, you just woke up, you should be taking it easy. "Jenny looked at him, worried, but he took her hand in his and looked into her eyes. "I have to do this."

She nodded, knowing that the boy, sleeping next to them meant the world to him. Then she voiced something she'd been worrying about the entire night.

"I wonder who is going to take care of Zack now."

"What about that friend of his father's?"

"A single man, who is still in service? Not the most brilliant position to take care of a young boy."

"His father did it." Jenny sighed, deciding to let this conversation rest for a while when she noticed that Zack was stirring awake.

"Gibbs, you woke up."

"Yeah, I did. I was sorry to hear about your dad, Zack."

Zack gave him another forced smile, "thank you". Then he remembered his earlier question and turned to Jenny. "can I go see my dad?"

"Sure. And tell you what, we'll come with you."

And this time, Jenny was sure that it was a real smile that graced the boy's face as he looked at the two of them.


	22. Connections and Water

**_Well this one has been finished for a while, but I completely forgot to post it._**

**_Whoops. Anyway, thank you to everyone who is still reading this, I hope you enjoy!_****Chapter 22: Connections and Water**

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Jenny had left Zack with Gibbs after seeing his father, it had been difficult. Luckily the nurses had made him a bit presentable. After checking with their ME that cover up wouldn't harm the possible evidence. No son should see their father like this. Especially not such a young one.

Alan Masterson had called her right after she'd left the hospital to talk about Zack. They'd agreed to talk over coffee, and that was where she was heading right now. She wondered what the other man had to tell her, it wasn't like she was any kind of authority in the boy's life. She was just the messenger, the person in between.

"I'm glad you wanted to meet me Director Shepard."

"Please, call me Jenny."

The conversation flowed fairly easily. She was a bit devastated that Alan didn't want to take Zack in, she had suspected that he would have given it a shot, even if it was for a short while. But he'd told her that he hadn't had any experience with kids, and seeing the boy would make the loss of his friend even harder. And there was still his job. Which required him to travel a lot. And there was no option for him to transfer to a desk job, at least not in this year.

She had replied that Zack was still at boarding school and that travelling wouldn't be that much of a problem. But the pained look in the man's eyes told her that he really wasn't ready, or able to raise this boy.

"So you want to send him to social services? Let him flow into the system?"

"I was hoping you and your husband would be able to take him. Zack and Andrew both spoke very highly of you."

"I don't think the court or social services would see us as very good options. We have very high risk jobs, and the times Zack has seen us can be counted on one hand."

"You could try, maybe pull some strings?"

Jenny sighed, she really should talk this over with Jethro, but she already knew what his opinion was. He wouldn't want Zack to get lost in the system. In her mind she quickly decided to give Ella a call, her freshmen dorm mate, she'd studied law and was now a very good attorney. Maybe she could support them in family court.

"Jenny?"

"Alright, it is a possibility. I knew Andrew had no immediate family left, but don't they have any other relatives who would possible take Zack in?"

"Maybe on his mother's side, I thought her parents or a sister were still alive, but they never had contact with Andrew and Zack after Mary died. They blamed them for the accident.

"We do have to contact them. Just to make sure."

"I will see if I can find their information, I'll update you tonight."

Jenny nodded. Then she realized something. "Who is going to take care of the funeral?"

"I think your people have to do their investigation first right?"

Jenny nodded once again. Right after calling the time, she had contacted NCIS and put one of her best teams on the job. Not Gibbs', Agent Carter's. DiNozzo, Ziva and McGee were distracted enough. She needed fresh minds on this, to make sure this case would be solved quickly.

"I'm going to contact our ME after this to speed up the autopsy process, that way Andrew's body will be available for viewing in less than two days."

Alan nodded, "I'll take care of the arrangements, I know Andy had a will and also some specifications about the funeral."

"Whatever it takes, if you need something just give me a call."

The two said their goodbyes and left the shop to walk to their respective cars.

---

For the first time in a couple of days, Jenny entered her office. Breathing in the familiar surroundings. Somehow, in between all the stress and giant workload this place was her own little sanctuary. Making it possible for her to relax a few minutes during the stressful days. Unfortunately today wasn't one of them.

She let Cynthia call up Agent Carter to get caught up on Andrew Tanner's case and called social services. She was told that the person overseeing Zack's case wouldn't be in until 3. She was making a few house calls at the moment.

Cynthia's voice sounded over the intercom, informing her of Agent Carter's arrival. Jenny told her to let him in and straightened in her seat. Pulling her Director mask back in place.

"Agent Carter, did you find something?"

"Well, besides the obvious bruising and broken bones, there isn't much to tell just yet. Ducky confirmed COD as a heart attack, Abby is still running some labs. If we ever catch the people responsible, we won't be able to get first degree murder charges. So we're hoping that some kind of poison will turn up in the labs. But we'll let you know."

"Do you have any suspects?"

"Nothing much just yet. It seems that the Commander was involved in secret operations. We actually needed your signature to look in some files."

"Right," Jenny held out her hand for the paperwork and skimmed the pages. It could put a dent in her operation, but this investigation couldn't be compromised.

"I count on your team's discretion with the information you'll find in those files."

"Of course Director."

Jenny gave him one of her famous glares to make sure she got her point across. None of the information could leave this building. Not even the squad room. Agent Carter felt slightly uncomfortable and quickly excused himself to reunite with his team. If the situation wasn't so serious she would've laughed at the man's childish actions, he acted like a little boy who'd been called to the headmaster's office and couldn't wait to get out. She glanced at the clock, she still had fifteen minutes before the case worker was in. She decided to finally give Ella that call. Thank goodness she kept a copy of her address book in her office.

After the usual small talk Jenny got straight down to business, asking about the possibilities of keeping the child under her own care, at first during the investigation, and just maybe for the time after that. Her friend told her she had to have a very good reason for keeping the boy close, and if she was serious about keeping the boy after that, she'd have to check up on her foster care papers.

Jenny told her that the boy had been attacked before, so she could keep him for his own safety, and that she was never happier that Ella had convinced her to register as a possible foster parent.

What she didn't tell her friend, was that she was actually hoping to adopt the boy. If only she could convince her husband that it was the best option for the child.

---

"Gibbs?"

"What is it Zack?"

"Who am I going to live with now that Dad went up to heaven to Mom?"

"Well, I don't know. Do you have any other family?"

"I'm not sure." Zack frowned, thinking about the option. "I think I remember seeing a card from my Grandmother and Grandfather once, my Mom's parents. But that was years ago."

"Really?" Gibbs look at him questioningly, how long could 'years ago' be for a boy of 12 years old.

"I think it was my 6th birthday. The one after my mom died. But I don't remember getting any other cards or presents or anything after that.

Gibbs didn't dare to voice his thoughts. It was quite possible that his grandparents died already. Leaving this small boy all alone in this world. He hoped Tanner's friend would be able to take him in. Zack didn't deserve being left in the system.

"Gibbs? Are you asleep?"

Gibbs smiled at the boy, he'd been a bit far away in his thoughts to hear the boy's last question.

"What did you ask?"

"I asked if you were asleep. Which you obviously aren't. Or you could be talking to me in your sleep. That would be so cool."

He laughed as the boy's face lit up. "I meant the question before you called my name."

"Oh that one, I wanted to know what you used to do with your dad when you were little."

Gibbs smiled, he knew Zack would always remember his sailing trip with his father, and every other trip he'd taken with his dad. He himself remembered every car he'd worked on with his father. Right until the day he'd start being able to fix them himself.

"We used to fix old cars, trying to get them running again."

"Cool! Did he ever take you swimming? The last time Dad and I went away we drove up to a lake, and we played the entire day, we swam and there was this boat, and Dad even let me row it!"

"That sounds great, Zack. My dad took me out on a boat quite a few times, back home there was this lake, which had the biggest fish I'd ever seen.

"_Dad, did you see that one?"_

"_Be careful Leroy, don't hang too far over the side or you're going to fall in."_

"_I'm not going to fall Dad, and if I do, I can always swim back."_

"_But you don't want those big fish to grab your leg and pull you down?"_

"_Like that would ever happen."_

_Jackson Gibbs gave his son a look that said 'you-never –know'._

"_Wow that one is hu.." Leroy didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before he fell into the water. _

"_Leroy? Son? Where are you?"_

_Jackson looked into the water, he couldn't see his son anywhere, he hoped the boy hadn't hit his head or something. He searched the water, hoping to find some indication of his son. But his patience quickly ran thin and he jumped into the water, taking a very deep breath to continue his search below the surface. Then he noticed a very familiar form swim towards the surface and he quickly followed it._

"_Dad?"_

_Leroy looked up in surprise when his father reached the surface next to him, gasping for air. _

"_Dammit Leroy, what on earth were you thinking, you had me worried sick!"_

"_I'm sorry Dad, I tried to find those fish you were talking about. But I couldn't find them."_

_Jackson grumbled and pushed his son towards the boat. "Looking for fish, not a considerate bone in his body for his old man."_


	23. Funeral and Family

**_So sorry, it's been ages. But for the first time in ages I'm following my New Years resolution. Enjoy_**

**Chapter 23: Funeral and Family**

It had been a week since Jenny was able to convince social services to let her take Zack home with her. Jethro was still in the hospital, the doctors saw it as the only possibility for him to keep taking it easy. And not overdoing his activities. Jenny took one last look in the mirror, next to the front door and called Zack one last time.

"Zack? We have to go now."

He walked down the stairs, not really watching where he was going while he was fumbling with his tie. She thought he looked adorable in his suit. In an hour the memorial service for his father would start and they had to drop by the hospital first.

"Come here. I'll help you."

She bent down and fixed his tie, "there, all done." She decided against kissing his forehead. Not really sure if it was still appropriate to do that with a twelve year old.

"Let's go."

At the hospital, they could hear the nurse 'discuss' with Gibbs from down the hallway. They looked at each other and hurried their steps. Hoping that both Gibbs and the nurse on duty were still alive by the time they arrived in the room. When they entered, they were glaring at each other, Gibbs was standing next to his bed, dressed up in a suit. He was clearly planning on coming with them to the service.

Zack ran over to Gibbs and hugged him. The two had spent quite a lot of time together lately. And Zack was clearly pleased with the idea of having another friend at the service.

"I really have to advise you not to leave the hospital Mr. Gibbs. You need your rest."

Jenny took the nurse aside and promised to keep a very close eye on him, and to make sure he'd return right after the service. Finally the nurse gave in, sighing she left the room to take care of the necessary paperwork. Jenny grinned and turned back to her two boys. Listening in on their conversation.

"So Jenny picked you up for the service?"

Before Zack could answer she interrupted him. "We really should be going."

The two nodded and Gibbs escorted the two of them out. Keeping one hand on Zack's shoulder and the other on the small of her back. It felt somehow the same as it had done when they last attended a funeral together. Kate's. She glanced at his face, but he betrayed no clear emotion. Then she looked at Zack, he was clearly trying to stay brave on this very difficult day. And she'd been sure that he would've told Gibbs the truth, if she'd let him answer the question a few moments ago.

She and Zack had promised not to tell Gibbs where he was staying for now. She'd told Zack that she wanted to surprise him whenever he was discharged, but honestly, she wasn't sure if Gibbs was ready to have another child around twentyfour seven. She'd decided that that was a hurdle they'd cross when they got there. Or to be more specific, whenever he returned home.

--

Zack looked around, seeing the familiar faces of the NCIS team, his fathers old unit and other friends. Then his gaze travelled to an older couple, who were standing a bit in the back, together with a women who seemed a bit familiar. He felt a hand on his leg, and turned back around. Facing his fathers coffin once more. He looked at the hand on his leg and the person it belonged to. Jenny. She smiled gently at him, but he could tell it was a forced smile. He grabbed her hand and continued to hold it during the rest of the funeral. He listened to his father's friends as they recalled memories and told stories about how great of a man his father was.

But then something occurred to him. No one ever asked him to tell everyone about his dad. He leaned closer to his other side, pulling Gibbs' jacket.

"I want to say something too." The blue eyes searched his brown ones, like he was trying to figure out if he was up for it. And then he nodded.

"Want me to come with you?"

"Nope, I'll be fine." Zack gave him a brave smile and got up from his chair and headed for the minister. He quickly whispered a few words to the man. And when the last speaker, Alan finished the minister took his place.

"There is one last person here who would like to say a few words to Andrew. His son, Zachary Tanner."

Zack swallowed the lump in his throat and faced the group of people. He hesitated for a moment, but he found Gibbs' face in the crowd, the older man nodded at him, and he returned the gesture.

"I would like to thank you all for coming here today, I think my dad would've really appreciated it." He stopped for a moment, and glanced at the picture of his father on the coffin. With new courage he spoke up again.

"My dad wasn't just my dad. Ever since my mom died, he tried everything to fill her place too. I knew he really missed her. Sometimes late at night, when he thought I was sleeping I could see him talking to her picture, telling her about the things we'd done that day. And even though he had a busy job he always found the time to be the best dad possible to me. A few years ago, after a.. difficult time, he and uncle Alan took me out to sea on a boat. And that is the image I want to remember of my father, happy, and the two of us having fun. I'm really going to miss you Dad."

Zack stepped down and as he passed the coffin, he put his hand on it and whispered "I love you" to his father, one last time. Back in his seat, Jenny grabbed his hand again and Gibbs leaned a bit closer.

"You did good."

--

"I want to see my grandson". The older man he'd seen earlier, approached him, followed by the older woman and the younger one.

The service had ended a little while ago, and most of the people had left, only Gibbs, Jenny and their team, uncle Alan and a few old friends had stayed behind.

Zack was a bit confused, he wasn't sure who the man was talking about, but he suspected that that man was his grandfather. His mother's father.

Jenny and Gibbs stepped closer to him, standing next to him as some kind of guard.

"Zachary, there you are." The older man crouched down to get to eye-level. Wincing a bit in the process. "Remember me? I'm your grandpa, your mother was my daughter, and this is you Grandma and Aunt Taylor."

The women smiled gently at him. And he could tell his grandmother was resisting to pull him into a hug. He was glad Jenny and Gibbs were there with him.

"It's nice to meet you, Grandpa."

"So, Zachary, want to come home with us?" The older man held out his hand. But Jenny put her arm around Zack in a possessive stand.

"He's going home with me, just like he has been doing the last week." She tried to dodge Gibbs' surprised look, one that was clearly demanding a bit more explanation.

"Nonsense, that boy has to be with his family at a time like this."

"That boy, as you call him, hasn't seen you since he was six years old! You missed out on half of his life."

"I don't think that that is any of your business Miss.."

"It's Mrs, Mrs. Shepard-Gibbs. And it has been my business since I was rewarded with temporary custody."

The surprise on Gibbs' face increased. What had Jenny been doing this last week? He noticed the looks he got from the women, and he quickly hid his surprised expression.

"We'll see about that. Zachary, are you coming?"

"It's Zack, and I want to go home with Jenny" He stepped a bit closer to the redheaded woman, even if those people were family, and Aunt Taylor reminded him of his mom, he'd rather go home with people who he knew. People he knew he could trust.

His grandfather gave him a last look, the older man was stunned when he noticed the stern look on Zack's face. And smiled, it was his daughters. Then he gave the couple at his grandson's side a cold look.

"I'll see you in court."

And he stalked off, the older woman following him to try to calm him down. The younger woman remained and held out her hand to Zack.

"Hi Zack, I'm Taylor Jennings. I'm your mom's little sister, you're dad was a really good guy. I know how much she loved him."

Zack gave the woman a small smile, and she widened her own, before replacing it with a pleading look.

"Zack? Would you mind if I hugged you?"

Zack shook his head, but was still caught a bit off guard when his Aunt Taylor enveloped him in a bear hug.

She whispered in his ear. "I'm so sorry that I haven't been in touch, but you grandfather, well. Let's just say he's been a bit stubborn."

She released him and stood up again, opened her pursed and searched through it until she found a scrap of paper and a pen. She scribbled something on it and handed it to him.

"If you ever need someone to talk to. Give me a call."

Zack smiled at her again, and she hugged him once more, this time shorter and a bit more gentle. She gave a polite smile to Jenny and Gibbs.

"I can see the two of you care about him a lot. And that he cares about you too. I just hope you'll allow me to visit him once in a while."

Jenny nodded. "We'd never keep him away from his family." She searched through her own purse and pulled out a card and a pen, writing something on the back of the card.

"Here is my card and home number. We'd be glad to have you over for dinner sometime."

Taylor thanked the woman and walked away. With one last wave over her shoulder she returned to the car where her father was waiting. He looked mad at her about something but she refused to listen to him and got in the back. Finally the car drove off and the rest of the team joined the three.

"So what now?"

Jenny looked around at the questioning looks. "Well, Jethro has to get back to the hospital. Do all of you want to join us for dinner back at the house?"

The team nodded. Gibbs narrowed his eyes, knowing that she partially did that to avoid the discussion for a moment.

"Zack, want to ride back with Abby and the others? I think she has something special for you to listen too." Luckily Abby knew what he was talking about and started an explanation about the New Orleans custom of playing jazz at funerals.

"You're not getting away with it this easily."

Gibbs pulled Jenny gently towards the car. And when they sat inside he asked one simple question. "Why?"

"Well, in the hospital you were talking about how Alan would be more than capable to take care of Zack, so I thought that you didn't want to take him home with you."

He nodded. And she waited for the explosion that she knew would follow.

"Okay."

"Okay? That's it?"

Gibbs nodded once more, and gave her a short kiss.

"I'm glad you took him with you."

Jenny's worried look quickly transformed into a brilliant smile and she pulled Gibbs close to let her mouth meet his in a passionate kiss. They continued to kiss until Gibbs broke away, rubbing he ribs.

"I think we'll have to delay this for a bit, the position doesn't really agree with my ribs."


	24. Building

**_Did I forget to mention that I finished OFAS? _**

**Chapter 24: Building**

Zack and Abby entered the cream colored ice-cream salon. After ordering their favorites, with extra whipped cream and a cherry on top, they sat down in one of the booths. Zack was silent, playing with a paper napkin.

"What's the matter Zack?" Zack looks up at Abby, she could see the worry in his eyes.

"Are they going to take me away?"

"Who?"

"My mom's parents."

Abby hesitated, she knew that it was a very good possibility. But from the looks of it, Zack wasn't looking forward to moving in with his grandparents. And she suspected that Jenny and Gibbs weren't going to let this little guy get away that easily.

"I'm sure the silver haired fox and his better half will take care of everything."

"Who?" Abby smiled, there was so much she still had to teach him about Mommy and Daddy.

"Gibbs and Jenny."

Zack nodded, and she could see the relief on his face. All she hoped was that her promise wouldn't be broken.

--

Gibbs walked down the stairs. Something he still found quite difficult, not that he would admit it. He crossed Cynthia's path as she exited his wife's study. She greeted Gibbs before walking out the door. Gibbs watched as the door closed after her, before entering the study himself.

"Was that Cynthia? On her day off?"

"Don't, I feel bad already for having her go in on her free day."

"Why was she here?" Gibbs approached the desk, Jenny lifted her glasses from her nose, laying them down on top of the stack of papers in front of her.

"I had her check up on Zack's grandparents."

Gibbs nodded, and walked around the desk, leaning over her shoulder to read the papers for himself. Jenny moved her glasses and picked one of them up.

"Look at this, they practically disowned their daughter. And look at the date, it was just before Andrew started his job on the East Coast."

"So they disowned their daughter for moving across the country." Gibbs couldn't understand how someone could do that to their own daughter. He couldn't even imagine showing Kelly the door , not for leaving, not for a man she'd be in love with. If only he'd been able to face those moments.

Jenny nodded, "And from the looks of it, contact after that had been kept to a minimum. Her father has been in the hospital twice in the three years after the move. And the hospital had no record of Sara ever visiting."

"I wonder if they'd even bothered to inform her."

"Cynthia also found a number from an old co-worker of Sara's. I called her, apparently the parents had showed up to the funeral, they had caused quite a scene. Shouting at Andrew for killing their daughter."

"Did they attempt to take Zack away back then too?"

"Not according to her."

Gibbs exchanged a look with his wife, "A lawyer probably told them they wouldn't stand a chance."

Jenny sighed. "Let's hope they still don't."

----

Jenny had arranged a meeting with someone from social services, to make sure there wouldn't be any problems regarding the living arrangements and possible adoption. Jethro was waiting in the living room, he'd set himself up in her father's old chair. Looking every bit the perfect paternal image.

Finally the doorbell rang. Jenny rushed to the door and opened it, greeting the two women from social services on the other side. She let them too the living room. Gibbs got up from the chair, hiding the wince and introduced himself.

"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Gibbs, my name is Ava Jones and this is my colleague Will Waters."

"Will?" Gibbs questioningly replied.

"Actually it's Wilhelmina, but my mother is the only one who dares to use it."

Jenny smiled, "Oh we can understand that perfectly, I can count the people who use my full first name on one hand. And no one uses his real first name, right Leroy?" She motioned towards Gibbs and he winced as he heard his first name.

"Just my father." He answered with a forced smile.

"Well then, let's get down to business. We've reviewed your paperwork, and everything seems to be in order, but we still have a few questions left for you regarding the adoption and your motivation to adopt Zachary Tanner."

Noemi entered the room before Ava could ask her first question. She asked the guests what they would like, and returned to the kitchen after looking at both Jenny and Jethro and receiving only a nod in return.  
Coffee. What else.

"So, just for the record. We are here today to discuss and fill out the last details for your long-term fostering and possible adoption of Zachary Tanner. Is that right?"

Jenny nodded in agreement from the corners of her eyes she saw Jethro's look of surprise. But thankfully he quickly his it from the other ladies' eyes.

She should have told him about the plan to adopt, it never seemed to be the right time, and she didn't want to spring it on him. Knowing his temper he could've ended up in the hospital again, or hiding for weeks in his basement.

Thankfully the rest of the conversation wet by without any bumps in the road. But after they'd waved the social workers out together he'd closed the door, turned around and walked away. Leaving her in torment with her back against the door. She knew following him wouldn't solve a thing. He'd only close himself off more.

Gibbs walked across the hall with a bottle of bourbon he'd just grabbed from the bar in his hands. He couldn't bear to look at Jenny just yet. How could she have kept his something this big from him? Sure, he liked having Zack around, he was a great kid, but he wasn't ready to be a fulltime father again. Maybe it would be better if his grandparents would take him.. he cut off his own thoughts with a big swig from the bottle. No, he couldn't do that to the boy. Living with people who'd hadn't seen him since his first birthday. Never took the time to get to know him just because of his father. It wasn't right. When Kelly was little they still went back to Stillwater once in a while to let Kelly know her grandfather. Maybe he didn't always accompany them, but still a child deserved to know their relatives. The relationship between the parents and grandparents shouldn't influence it too much.

He picked up a chinsel and a wooden hammer and moved to one of his smaller half finished projects. Jenny hadn't allowed him to work on the boat but he'd started a little something else instead. A small wooden treasure chest. One for her, and one for Zack. To fill with anything they'd thought important. He'd made one for Abby years ago, and even if he was a bit rusty, he remembered her happiness when she'd received it.

--

His anger slowly subdued as he continued to work on his project. Jethro was completely lost in thought until he heard a knock on the basement door. Hesitatingly Jenny's face appeared in the opening, and she looked down at her husband .

"I just wanted to tell you, Ella called .she said that we can only prove that we're better fit as his guardians if we make adjustments to our lives. Less work, and more time for family. She also informed me that it usually is impossible to adopt children away from their family unless there is some form of abuse involved."

Gibbs looked up at his wife.

"Isn't neglect some form of abuse?"

"That's what Ella is aiming for. Hopefully we won't have to put Zack on the stand."

"We do have to talk to him." Jethro put his tools down for a moment and turned back to look at his wife, just in time to see her nod in response.

"Abby is dropping him off in an hour. If you're ready I think it would be best if we informed him then.

Gibbs nodded in confirmation and blew the last wood scraps from his creation.

"I'll be right there."

"Jethro?" He looked back up the stairs, seeing Jenny biting her lower lip. "Are we okay?"

He hesitated for a moment, not sure of his reply.

"We will be, " He smiled. "after we get custody of Zack."

Jenny gave him a brilliant smile and even from this distance he could see her eyes sparkle.

"Remember, one hour.


	25. Decisions and Hesitations

**Chapter 25: Decisions and Hesitations**

The evening was falling in the Shepard-Gibbs house, Zack and Gibbs were in the basement, Gibbs was teaching Zack how to work with wood, and how it should be treated. Jenny was with Noemi, setting the table and complete some last finishing touches before their guests arrived. Between the funeral, the custody issues and everything else Jenny and Jethro had decided it would be nice for Zack to have a few familiar people at the dinner table.

It wasn't the team, they'd invited to join them for dinner. They had called Alan and Taylor. That way, Zack would have a chance to talk about his parents, learn stories about them but still be in a familiar environment.

Jenny was about to check on her boys, but before she could put her hand on the doorknob which would open the door to the basement, the doorbell rang and she changed her path. She opened the door to find Taylor on the other side. Struggling with her purse, a bottle of wine and something that looked like an old photo album. The women smiled at each other and Jenny took the bottle of wine.

"This might be a bit easier."

"Yes, thank you. I hope you'll like the wine. It's one of my favourites."

"I'm sure we'll love it."

Before she could close the door behind them, the headlights of another car lit the driveway. Jenny told Taylor to walk into the living room and make herself comfortable. She herself waited for her other guest.

Alan and Jenny joined Taylor in the living room.

"I'm so happy you two were able to make it. Jethro and I thought it would be good for Zack to have a quiet dinner and evening together, after the hectic time he's had lately."

Alan looked around. "Where are they?"

"I'm afraid the two of them are still stuck in the basement. But I'll get them in a minute. First, Alan, this is Taylor, Zack's aunt and Andrew's sister-in-law. And Taylor, this is Alan, Zack's uncle, and old friend of Andrew." The two shook hands. They had seen each other before, at the service. But there hadn't been a formal introduction before. "Can I get you two anything to drink? Coffee maybe?"

Alan nodded in confirmation, but Taylor looked hesitant. "If it's not too much trouble, I'd rather have some tea, please."

"Of course! I'll be right back." Jenny walked out the room, walking the long route to the kitchen and taking the opportunity to stop at the basement.

"Boys, our guests are here. Clean yourselves up and join them."

Without waiting for a reply she continued her path. Hoping that her guests had found something to talk about in the mean time. As she was asking Noemi how long she still needed for dinner, she could hear the voices of her husband and Zack join the other two. Quickly she made her way back with a filled tray.

--

"So, there we were. Soaking wet and just after we called a truce Andrew came up behind us and shoved snow in our necks."

"No he didn't, he shoved snow down your neck, I ducked." Zack smiled and the others laughed.

"Fine, he shoved snow down my neck." Alan surrendered.

After the difficult ice breaker before dinner, they had fallen in to comfortable conversation. And by the main course, they were covering embarrassing stories. Jenny had told one about Gibbs in Serbia, and in return, Gibbs had told about Jenny's first autopsy.

"I remember that Mary used to hate the snow. I used to tease her about it, and the snowball fights we had were famous in the entire neighborhood. Every kid joined in and we made huge forts and planned elaborate attacks and everything."

"Mom didn't like the snow?" Zack looked up an amazement, he couldn't imagine anyone not liking snow.

"Not one bit, she used to cuddle up under a blanket close to our fireplace and pretend to take a _winterslaap_.

Taylor smiled, it was nice to be able to tell someone about her sister. Her parents still found it too difficult to talk about her. It had come as a bit of a surprise to her that they wanted to take Zack in, but before Mary's death her father had been quite big on blood and family. Maybe he finally found a piece of himself back. She hoped so. But now that she watched Zack with the people in this room, she knew that they weren't the only family he had left. He had found himself a new one. Maybe not under the best circumstances but if the looks Jenny and Jethro gave the boy were anything to go by, she knew he'd be just fine even if he stayed here.

"Zack, why are you playing with your food?" Jenny gave the boy a stern look. She'd watched the boy as he pushed his carrots around on his plate, making figures with them while listening to the conversation.

"I don't like carrots."

"Really, and what were you eating when I got home this afternoon? I could have sworn that it was a carrot Noemi gave you."

"But that's different."

Jenny raised her eyebrow. "Really? How?"

"I don't like them when they're cooked. They taste much better when they aren't."

Taylor couldn't repress her laugh. She had heard this conversation before. The others gave her a confused look. "I'm so sorry. But Mom used to have this conversation about a million times with Mary. She refused to eat cooked carrots too, and Mom had to force her to have salad on her plate when we ate. She used to have this saying.."

Taylor's voice drifted off as she tried to remember what her sister said. It had been quite some time ago. Jenny's gaze travelled to Zack, the boy was glowing with excitement. Happy that he'd discovered something that he shared with his mother. She didn't have the heart to tell him to eat the carrots after all.

"I've got it! She used to say that 'If God wanted her to eat food you gave to rabbits, he would've made her a bunny rabbit.'" Taylor leaned over to Zack and whispered " you wouldn't believe how many time-outs that cost her."

Zack looked down at his plate, and back up at Taylor and then looked over to Jenny and Gibbs. He sighed, and picked up his fork. Closing his eyes as he quickly put a few carrots in his mouth, chewed and swallowed.

--

The courtroom was in full session, the judge was rubbing his temples. Between the two attorneys and both parties involved he had a migraine coming up, and it was a big one. Sometimes he wished he hadn't decided to work in family court.

One the one hand he had the boy's grandparents, who hadn't been in contact with the boy since his birth, but who were his only living relatives. And on the other hand, he had a couple, who seemed great for a possible adoption, but too involved with their work, their attorney had informed him they'd be ready to make the necessary sacrifices and that they had a steady support system for the boy, their colleagues. In their own words, the team was family. But he also knew that the woman was the Director of an armed federal agency. That brought on some serious security risk for the child. Bringing a minor in to such an high risk environment was not something he'd planned on doing. And the grandparents ,there was no danger factor there, but who knew how long they'd be able to take care of him, before they would be needing assistance themselves? The child was entering his teenage years, he was going to need guidance and guardians who could keep him in line.

He glanced at the boy, he didn't really look like the trouble making kind, but who knew. In his many years he'd seen even more children and he knew that appearances could be deceiving. His gaze travelled over to the people sitting next to the boy, on one side, there was a woman looking very uncomfortable in her clothes, but with her dark hair in pigtails, from his files he could identify her as Abigail Sciuto, and on the other side, there was a woman with the same eyes as the boy. A woman who could only be his aunt.

The aunt. He could delay the decision and involve the aunt. Hm..now that sounded like a good option. She certainly looked suitable enough to take care of the boy. But he wasn't sure what the documents had said about her lifestyle, and her living arrangements. He'd have to check that. He looked at the three once more, and noticed that the woman with the pigtails was holding the boy's hand. The other moved her hand to her knee, and he could see her wanting to grab the other hand. But then the boy put his other hand on top of the hand that was being held by Ms Sciuto. Maybe it was more suitable to have a chat with the boy first. Ask him some questions, away from influences behind closed doors.

"I call in a recess, in which I would like to have a conversation with Zachary in private. Zack, would you follow me?"

The boy nodded and got up from his chair, releasing the hand he'd been holding after saying something to the woman next to him. Judge Peters led the boy to his chambers, motioning him to sit down on one of the chairs.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank you sir."

"So, you know why this is all happening?"

Zack nodded. "Jenny and Gibbs and my mother's parents both want me to stay with them. Jenny and Gibbs explained it all to me."

"Do you always call them your mother's parents?"

"Yes, I don't know them well enough to call them Grandma and Grandpa, the only real grandparents I had were my dad's parents. And I suppose Ducky has been a bit like a grandfather to me lately."

Zack wisely kept his mouth shut about the other grandfather, Jasper Shepard, whom Jenny had called in a few times to watch over him. He and the old man had bonded quickly, stories about pranks and other things that shouldn't be mentioned made the two fast friends.

"Ah yes, Doctor Mallard. And how had he been like a grandfather?"

"Well he always tells me stories, and he has these really cool magic tricks."

The judge smiled as he saw the boy's face lit up.

"So, you know what question had to follow now, don't you?"

Zack nodded, "you want to ask me where I want to live?"

Judge Peters nodded confirmingly. Zack pondered over the question for a moment. But he'd already constructed his question a week ago. He had known that they would ask this question sooner or later. And he didn't want to hurt his grandparents, or Jenny and Gibbs.

"I think I would prefer living with Gibbs and Jenny. I love them and their team. And they already feel like family. I would really like to know my aunt too, but I don't think I could live with my grandparents all the time, knowing they rejected my mother for marrying my father. I mean, how could they not like my dad?"

Judge Peters nodded along with him. He could see the boy idolized his father. Which wasn't very surprising since he'd been the only parent the child had in a very long time. He knew enough.

"Would you like to visit them at least?"

"I suppose. But I would like an explanation from them first."

"Alright, thank you Zack."

Judge Peters motioned the boy to get up again and he followed him out the room, he watched the child as they walked back to the court room. He'd sounded so grown up, his answers carefully constructed and very well thought through. If this was any other case, he would've doubted the ability of the child to come up with answers like this. But this boy sounded so very sincere. And especially when they talked about his dad. _How could they not like my dad?_ Zachary's eyes had been a bit glassy, filled with tears as he'd said it. And no child could fake that.

The two returned to the courtroom. He noticed the silent communication between Zack and the Shepard-Gibbs'. After making sure he was alright, they turned their attention back to the judges' stand. Judge Peters raised his voice again.

"Order in the courtroom. I have come to a decision."

---


	26. Future

**_So this is it. The end. And if you're still reading, it's the last chance to leave a review! So do it ;-)_**

**Chapter 26: Future**

"Hey dad, It's been a while. I brought you some cake. I hope you like it. It's your favourite."

Zack put the slice down. "I even put the sixteen candles on them."

"Yeah, I know, candles are a bit childish, but Ma insisted on them."

"So how are you and Mom doing? I hope the two of you are happy over there. And I'm sure you've been there to greet Gramps, and your in-laws too."

Zack put his hands in his pockets. He wasn't really sure what to say. He looked around and saw other people talking to their relatives and loved ones. Whomever was buried in front of them.

"Pop is helping me to fix up a car. He told me he had one at his father's home but he never saw it after he left. So he insisted on finishing this one with me. I like it, it's a bit different from working on a boat. But after we finished the last one it didn't feel right to start on another."

"And mom, if you're there, don't be to hard on your parents. Grandmother never did anything wrong, she just didn't know how to stand up to her husband, and I think she just wanted to get to know a piece of her daughter. You can yell at Grandfather for a little while though. Taking me away after he lost the custody case wasn't right. I'm still a bit surprised that Ma and Pop let me get to know them after the old team brought me home. "

Zack grinned. "I wouldn't be surprised if Aunt Taylor talked them into it. She's good at those kind of things."

He searched his pocket for something else A laminated picture of Taylor, her husband and their little girl Mary. Two years old and they could already tell that she was going to be trouble. "I still can't believe Taylor married Tony. Those two are going to drive each other crazy one of these days. It's funny, I always thought Ziva and Tony would end up together, but after Ziva went back to Israel and came back to the US with her best friend from childhood I knew that Ziva's heart had been given away quite some time ago."

Zack kneeled and broke a piece from the slice of cake, "Well, I wouldn't want it to go to waste. And it can't be _that_ good for the birds."

He made his way through the rows of gravestones, until he stopped next to a redheaded woman. He took her hand and said "Hey Gramps, I'm going to steal Ma away now. She'll talk to you soon."

Jenny smiled at her son's antics. She never quite understood why he talked to the graves. But in some way it was oddly comforting. Mentally she said her own goodbyes to her father and she led her son to the far end of the graveyard. There was her husband and her daughter. Her brown haired, blue eyed gorgeous daughter. She could see her talking to the grave in front of her too. Talking to her big sister and her mother in a way only a three year old could. On her husband's face she could see that their child had covered every single day of the last month. In great detail.

Jenny and Zack stepped closer. Jenny put her hand on her husband's letting it travel down until her fingers were able to lace with his. On the other side, her son put his arm around his little sister and pulled her closer to his side. Greeting the people who laid there to rest. In those few short years Zack had really become like a son to her. And he had accepted them as his parents. Not as his Mom and Dad, those titles had been given away quite some time ago, and frankly she wasn't looking to replace his mother. But her wonderful boy, who was fast on his way to becoming a man, had come up with a title for the two of them on his own.

She remembered the first time he'd called her Ma. It was on a phone call, right after a failed attempt to bomb a ball she'd been attending, along with several other agency directors. He'd been frantic with worry, wondering if she was okay. Wondering if she wasn't hurt. But after she got the phone from Jethro and she heard him say 'Ma, are you all right?' she hadn't been able to stop the tears from filling her eyes.

"Let's get something to drink."

It was Gibbs who broke their silence, and the other three nodded.

"I want hot chocolate!" Belle called enthusiastically, and she ran away from them towards the entry gate. Zack quickened his pace to stay close to his little sister. Jenny and Jethro followed them. In their own pace, hands still entwined together.

Gibbs looked over his shoulder one last time. Mouthing to his first love and first daughter that he'd see them again soon. Then his gaze drifted to the woman next to him. A few lines more, and somewhere hidden, a few grey hairs more, but to him she was still as beautiful as she was the first time he'd met her.

No, not just as beautiful. Even more beautiful. Especially when she watched their children. There was this look in her eyes that made his heart still skip a beat. He reached over with his other hand and pushed a few loose strands of hair back behind her ear. Her gaze shifted from the young man and little girl in front of them to him. There it was.

He leaned in and gave his wife a loving kiss. She returned it with the same passion and pulled herself a little closer to him. The two followed their children off the graveyard, and to the café across the street. And as they sat down, he couldn't believe that he'd been blessed with such an amazing family. Twice.

--

**_It's sudden I know but you have to admit, it is a happily ever after.  
I want to thank everyone for reading, reviewing, putting this story on alert or adding it to their favourites. :)_**


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